Calbert H. Douglas

Patient-centred improvements in health-care built environments: perspectives and design indicators

Objective  To explore patients’ perceptions of health‐care built environments, to assess how they perceived health‐care built facilities and designs. To develop a set of patient‐centred indicators by which to appraise future health‐care designs.

Patient‐friendly hospital environments: exploring the patients’ perspective

Objective  To investigate the perceptions and attitudes of patients to the built environments of NHS Trust hospitals, in order to inform design excellence so as to make future hospitals places and spaces responsive to patient needs.

UK registered nurse medical device education: a comparison of hospital and bank nurses

During the last decade, health care delivery has seen the introduction of ever more sophisticated and complex equipment. This means that the medical devices first used in critical and high dependency care units are now integral requirements in the delive ry of direct patient care in acute ward areas. Registered nurses are the primary users of such medical devices (McConnell 1995). This paper reports on a comparative pilot questionnaire study undertaken in one acute NHS Trust. The main aim of the study was to compare, identify and consider the issues which relate to the education of registered nurses (whether employed by hospital Trusts or nurse Banks) in the use of medical devices. The paper outlines primary findings concerning what UK registered nurses learn about the medical devices that they use in the direct care of patients, and the consequences of their use. The results will assist clinical and educational staff to identify the specific strengths and weaknesses within current education provision, which prepares nurses in the use of medical devices. In light of the results, appropriate evidence-based educational and training strategies can be designed or modified to address clinical governance and risk management issues.

Health impact assessment for the sustainable futures of Salford

Background: The Salford Health Investment for Tomorrow and the Local Improvement Finance Trust proposals for the comprehensive redevelopment of Salford Royal Hospital and the provision of four integrated primary health and social centres in the City of Salford are a response to the challenge of the NHS Plan to modernise delivery and service provision. The scale of the proposed developments will have a major effect on the quality of life in Salford. This health impact assessment was undertaken to determine how these proposals could be amended to ensure that the impacts are optimised so that potential benefits to Salford’s communities are realised to maximise their health and wellbeing. Method: This involved a comprehensive prospective health impact assessment and a series of interviews with key stakeholders, community organisations, and local people to identify and prioritise potential positive and negative impacts of the proposals. Results and conclusions: The assessment pointed to a wide range of positive and negative impacts that provided the basis of a set of recommendations, which were linked directly to the themes of the Salford Community Plan. These related to setting employment, education, and training opportunities to maximise health and wellbeing and improve quality of life for all communities in Salford within the framework of the plan. In presenting the findings of the health impact assessment and discussing the recommendations, the paper presents a unique approach in health impact assessment reporting by offering perspectives from the assessor and the project’s steering group.

Developing health impact assessment for sustainable futures in small island states and territories.

This paper argues that small island states and territories provide a case for the application of health impact assessments. Their characteristic ecological fragility, vulnerability, relatively small size and limited resources give cause for environmental impact concerns. The tendency, therefore, is for decision-makers and developers to focus upon the economic benefits of proposed development projects while mitigating their environmental impacts, paying little attention to health impacts. The paper defines health status and health determinants and provides a toolkit of guidelines for carrying out health impact assessment in small islands. It discusses the approaches and lessons from the UK and Canada by which assessors in small islands can develop health impact assessment processes within their own contexts. The paper identifies the positive and negative health impacts that assessors should consider in assessing the impacts from tourism. The conclusions point to policy implications and the need for decision-makers to incorporate health impact assessment into their respective islands planning and regulatory frameworks.