Alegent Health’s Lakeside Hospital in Omaha, Neb., is one of the most technologically advanced hospitals in the nation. While this may conjure up images of stark white hallways, cold stainless steel surfaces, and futuristic medical equipment, patients at Alegent Lakeside Hospital have experienced a very different environment. The hospital is a warm and welcoming place, one that belies the multiple layers of state-ofthe- art technology operating just behind the scenes more...

Research continues to link a quiet hospital environment with improved patient healing and medical staff satisfaction. In today’s high-tech healthcare facilities, however, controlling noise is a growing concern. In terms of architecture, one of the most important challenges is to reduce speech levels between adjacent spaces such as patient rooms, nursing stations, and patient intake and discharge areas. In recent years, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Academy of Architecture for Health (AAH) has developed guidelines for design and construction of hospitals. Many design teams are using these guidelines to help meet noise-control standards established in the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). more...

From concierge services to gourmet meals, hospitals are becoming more like hotels. The healthcare industry increasingly is employing successful hospitality industry strategies in order to attract a well-insured, empowered clientele. But it’s not quite that simple, since a hospital stay is certainly not a vacation. How can we, as healthcare designers, transform lessons learned from hospitality design into appropriate applications for healthcare facilities? more...