Lone Mandrup Stidsen

Patients Light Preferences in Hospital Wards: related to light atmosphere in Danish homes

When designing Danish hospitals in the future, patients, staff and guests are in focus and it is especially important to design an environment with knowledge of users sensory and functionally needs. Likewise, focus should be on how hospital wards can support patients’ experiences or maybe even how it can have a positive influence on the recovery process. The present paper introduces the human perspective and the Danish cultural approach in illuminating homes and how it can contribute to innovative lighting design at hospitals. The importance of having a holistic approach to lighting design is introduced based on the theory by Gernot Bohmes i.e. “concept of atmosphere” dealing with the effect of experiencing atmosphere. The aim of this study for design of a lighting concept for wards is to get qualified information on patients light preferences for light atmosphere by studying the everyday use of light in homes. This explorative study displays the preferred light atmosphere in Danish homes in the age group of 60–85 years old people. With an anthropologically approach to the subject using semi structured interviews, the goal is to explore preferences for light atmosphere when the user are in the control of the light and get inspiration on how they create a private sphere. The purpose is also through this analyse to display cultural trends of illuminating homes, therefore, the paper will introduce the design lighting concept for wards based on different everyday situation activities from a hospital ward.

Optimizing lighting design for hospital wards by defining user zones

When studying standards and recommendations for lighting in hospital environments, they often suggest a uniform light distribution to facilitate the needs of the staff. At the same time, the standards recommend a lighting design which supports the patients’ feeling of a homely and pleasant atmosphere, however, they also point out that the light should not disrupt the patients’ wellbeing. These two approaches are not necessarily consistent because the right quality and quantity of light in wards is highly dependent on the functionality of the space and the desired and expected lighting atmosphere of the space as well as a comparison of lighting design in private and public settings which are often not similar. The purpose of this article is therefore to present an approach dividing the hospital ward in 3 user zones for patients, staff and visitors. The main user of the zone should be in control of the light scenario. Thereby leading to a refining of the lighting design, so it has the ability to support the different users’ activities and behavior on the ward. By using RFID tracking and manual observations, we have analyzed and evaluated the ward functionality as well as the working environment for the staff. The method creates a better understanding of the ward by mapping the flow of the staff and related work situations, which thereby makes is possible to create zones within the space. These zones can be used as guidelines for lighting design with the staff assignments in mind.