Home Health Care The Overlooked Aesthetic: Healthcare Washroom Design

The Overlooked Aesthetic: Healthcare Washroom Design

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With consumers having more control than ever over their healthcare choices, and health systems seeking an edge over their competition, the design of the built environment can play a big role in the customer experience. But within healthcare settings, washrooms—for patients, visitors, or staff—are often given short shrift, both aesthetically and in terms of actively creating a positive experience.

There are many reasons for this: concerns over infection control, ease of cleaning, and, in some cases, an outdated notion that a “clean” space must be bright white and austere. But it’s possible to do much more in these spaces, creating state-of-the-art restrooms whose look and feel is on par with the rest of the hospital and other healthcare facilities—while also meeting stringent cleanability, maintenance, and infection-control requirements.

“Washrooms are often viewed as a proxy for the attention to detail and cleanliness in the rest of the building,” says Cyrus D. Boatwalla, head of marketing at ASI Group (Yonkers, NY), which sells restroom cubicles, partitions, and accessories (grab bars, toilet paper holders, sanitary napkin dispensers, ADA mirrors, and more) for healthcare facilities and other commercial sectors. Boatwalla adds, “The way a bathroom is designed and maintained projects the level of care the building owners have for its occupants—so that often-neglected space can either contribute positively or detract significantly from how a patron feels about the facility and the business. When you compound this with the fact that bathrooms are often one of the most-used rooms in a building, it is clear that the impact bathrooms make is magnified, and can be as important (if not more important) than an elaborate lobby, elegant facade or modern waiting room.”

Creating welcoming spaces starts “with a realistic understanding of the programmatic needs, and creatively embracing these in the solution to yield beautiful work that includes durable, maintainable materials and accessories detailed in ways that are cost-effective and aesthetically pleasing,” says Carolyn BaRoss (AIA, IIDA, LEED AP), a principal at Perkins and Will’s New York office.

Roval™ recessed paper towel dispenser and removable waste receptacle

Roval™ automatic liquid soap and hand sanitizer dispenser

 

 

Three design trends

BaRoss has identified three essential trends that should be incorporated in modern restrooms within healthcare facilities: bigger floorplans, dignified universal access, and added attention to detail.

“More space is being provided in acknowledgment of the need for maneuverability within individual stalls in multi-stall toilets, and in individual toilet rooms for assisting others,” says BaRoss. “This goes beyond minimum ADA guidelines for individuals in wheelchairs. Space is required for someone to safely help another with mobility impairment or other needs.”

That includes space in multi-stall rooms for a parent to help a child or for a caregiver of an adult-sized person. People also bring belongings with them that require space beyond the minimum maneuvering clearances needed for wheelchairs, BaRoss says, including backpacks and handbags, coats, walkers, strollers, and rolling bags. “All that should be accounted for in space planning,” she says.

Dignified universal access, BaRoss says, involves “accommodating diversity to provide more individual rooms throughout facilities that are gender neutral, plus family-assist or caregiver-assist restrooms.”

Lastly, she says paying attention to details yields superior aesthetics and functionality of restroom elements, without compromising the durability needed to withstand the rigors of daily use, maintenance requirements, and sanitary standards. “Beautiful materials, attractive lighting, and aesthetic details help create that environment,” BaRoss says, “thanks to broad offerings of beautiful and low-cost tile and other finishes, durable hardware and composition of partitions that provide privacy, and sturdy clothing and bag hooks.”

All ASI grab bars are designed to meet ADA guidelines and are made from Type 304 stainless steel (peened or smooth). ASI also offers antimicrobial grab bars, which are finished with an electrostatically applied antimicrobial powder coating, formulated to incorporate slow release silver ions (Ag+), the most powerful and long-lasting natural antimicrobial agent known.

User experience

ASI’s Boatwalla—whose company has worked on such medical projects as the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, the Stanford Medical Center in Stanford, CA, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital’s West Chester complex in Ohio—says the specific elements needed to create a positive statement in the washrooms within medical buildings varies by their users: visitors, patients, or staff.

“For washrooms serving common areas—lobbies, visitors’ washrooms on the patient floors, etc. —having pleasing colors for partitions and quality washroom accessories is a desirable option,” he says. “Such facilities help a visitor view the hospital as one that has a high standard of quality, resulting in a positive attitude when they come to visit a patient.”

As for employee washrooms, ASI recommends partitions and lockers made from phenolic or solid plastic materials, which are impermeable. This makes the washroom or locker room more forgiving should the entire room need to be hosed down with cleaning equipment.

Many employees can feel vulnerable in common washrooms and in a medical facility where it’s paramount for staff to feel safe and calm, it’s advisable to specify partitions that offer added privacy. One elegant option is to specify European-style partitions, engineered with overlapping joints to eliminate sightlines into the stall and designed to reach closer to the ground and higher to the ceiling.  Another solution is to equip standard stalls with optional, add-on privacy strips that can block sightlines (although these do not offer added cubicle height).

Boatwalla notes that such partitions can cost between 15%-25% more than standard stalls because of extra material and manufacturing steps, or optional hardware. But he believes that added expense is worth it because it translates into higher staff morale: “You can’t put a price on peace of mind.”

Finally, in patient rooms, Boatwalla says the primary focus is on hygiene, which is aided by such installations as ASI’s antimicrobial grab bars and its stainless steel soap and paper towel dispensers. “ASI’s dispensers also look a lot better than the typical plastic ones, which often have advertising on them for such things as a prescription drug or a big logo of a manufacturer of consumables such as soap,” he says.

Overall, Boatwalla says, providing an upgraded experience in all types of washrooms in medical buildings is well worth the investment. “It can pay major dividends from the perspective of both hygiene and enhancing a facility’s reputation,” he explains.

In a similar vein, Perkins and Will’s BaRoss says, “Cost versus long-term maintenance and infection control should be evaluated holistically for healthcare restrooms. The focus on long-term value and impact on patient comfort and satisfaction, as well as health, safety, and well-being, all need to be part of the equation. Looked at that way, beauty and great design don’t end up costing more.”

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