Ten rules for 21st century healthcare: a US perspective on creating healthy, healing environments.

As healthcare leaders look to the future, they are becoming increasingly aware of the vitally important connection between the quality of care delivered and the physical environments in which that care takes place. In addition, they are beginning to recognise the powerful connection between health care organisations and the environment, the very planet itself. These 10 new rules can provide a template to accelerate improved health, health care, and lower costs. They can serve as guideposts to designing truly healing environments today and tomorrow. The worlds of health care, architecture, the arts and the environment are coming together in new and profoundly powerful ways. Let's have the courage, creativity, and compassion to embrace this new world together.

Demystifying first-cost green building premiums in healthcare.

This study assesses the extent of "first-cost green building construction premiums" in the healthcare sector based on data submitted by and interviews with 13 current LEED-certified and LEED-registered healthcare project teams, coupled with a literature survey of articles on the topics of actual and perceived first-cost premiums associated with green building strategies. This analysis covers both perceived and realized costs across a range of projects in this sector, leading to the following conclusions: Construction first-cost premiums may be lower than is generally perceived, and they appear to be independent of both building size and level of "green" achievement; projects are using financial incentives and philanthropy to drive higher levels of achievement; premiums are decreasing over time; and projects are benefiting from improvements in health and productivity which, although difficult to monetize, are universally valued.

Healthy buildings: impact on nurses and nursing practice.

Mounting evidence indicates that buildings can be a significant cause of human illness and environmental degradation. According to the United States (US) Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air pollution is one of the top five environmental risks to public health in the US. This may be related, to a large extent, to the fact that US citizens spend as much as 95% of their time indoors. Health care leaders, designers, and architects, recognizing the connection between health and the buildings in which much time is spent, are engaging in sustainable design and construction for healthy, 'green' buildings. The purpose of this article is to assist nurses in understanding the impact that unhealthy buildings can have on nurses and nursing practice and to provide tools and resources to assist nurses in transforming the health care industry with the goal of creating healing environments and reducing the negative environmental impact of the health care industry. First definitions, current initiatives, and motivations related to sustainable designs will be presented. Next sustainable health care design strategies, such as site planning, clean transportation, water conservation, healthy materials selection, indoor environmental quality, and also the benefits of sustainable design will be discussed. The article will conclude by sharing a variety of resources nurses can use to create healing environments in health care settings.