Lighting for Healthcare - Thorn

Wards and bedrooms
Clinical areas for treatment,
residential spaces for rest
and recuperation.
WARDS AND BEDROOMS
Performance - Wards in hospitals have a dual purpose which
from a lighting point of view need to blend successfully. First they
are clinical areas where medical staff observe and treat patients.
The lighting must provide good visibility to enable the staff, including
cleaners, to function correctly, helping to reduce fatigue and
mistakes. The ward is also a residential space where the lighting
should enable the patients, who may have limited mobility, to read,
write and take their meals in comfort.
Efficiency - Bedded areas represent the major proportion of space
allocated in hospitals and other healthcare buildings. The lighting
should be designed to conserve energy without compromise to the
functional safety of the ward. The luminaires should be practical to
install, easy to clean and maintain.
Comfort - Healthcare staff work in a pressurised environment
where they need to respond in a quick and efficient manner. A calm,
stress free atmosphere is essential. For patients, time in hospital is
a time of uncertainty, the fear of the unknown. A ward should be
a reassuring space, clean and comfortable, a place in which to
recover.
Technique - Hospital wards with restricted ceiling heights and
privacy curtains, which surround individual beds, present particular
problems for lighting designers. Options are fully recessed ceiling
luminaires or luminaires that are separately wall mounted or integral
with bedhead trunking, which also supplies medical gas and other
services.
© Patrick Dumas Photographe
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