Healthcare facilities require to evolve their safety standards constantly. Hospitals must quickly adapt to every new health hazard to treat the patients in the best manner while ensuring the safety of the patients, staff, and visitors.
Adaptability and Agility are essential during times of health crises like pandemics. In such situations, healthcare facilities are forced to formulate new safety precautions in impossibly tight time frames and accommodate an influx of patients.
To further make medical care facilities and hospitals safe spaces for patient recovery and treatment, architects and healthcare building designers are turning to innovative paths of smart materials. Do you ever wonder what material leading medical facility building architects primarily consider while keeping safety a top priority?
The builders and hospital designers should first consider the surfaces in the building in terms of how to reduce the number of surfaces and what materials to use that patient and healthcare workers may come into contact with.
Switchable Smart Glass Partition Improves Infection Control
Hospital designers and architects consider various factors when they plan a hospital building, from material selection to fire safety. However, the most critical aspect to consider is the infrastructure-based measures that enhance infection control to create a healthy environment.
High Sanitation
Everyone knows that glass material is easier to clean and disinfect than fabric. Switchable smart glass is similar to regular glass, and the staff can conveniently clean it with an antibacterial solution. On the contrary, curtains used for partitions in hospitals are either made of plastic or fabric, which is quite hard to disinfect; hence they are left unattended. Smart glass supports hygiene and is a critical factor in minimizing Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI).
It is reported in the Journal of Infection Prevention in Practice that a disinfectant solution with 0.5% hydrogen peroxide or 0.1% sodium hypochlorite (bleach) and 62-71% ethanol can effectively eliminate coronavirus in a minute. It is important to note that we can’t use this cleaning solution on fabric-covered furniture, curtains, and carpets, but we can apply it on the smart glass to make it virus-free.
Patient Isolation
Research has shown that private rooms provide an ideal healing environment. With smart glass technology, such spaces can be easily converted to patient isolation rooms if there is a contagious disease outbreak. The switchable smart glass allows the healthcare provider to monitor the patient from afar without entering a room. Moreover, the glass can instantly turn into a private room on demand with a single tap.
Minimal Material Handling
When the fabric curtain is used to create partitions between hospital wards or rooms, the visitors and staff often touch the curtain to draw or open it, which may cause cross-contamination of dangerous pathogens. On the other hand, smart glass technology requires minimal interaction since the staff can control it in multiple ways without touching it. For example, the technology can be powered by remote control, or it can be turned on and off with the help of a smart application.
Smart Glass in Hospital Improves the Patient’s Recovery
Smart glass wall significantly outweighs the advantages of curtains and improves the safety of patients; it enhances the patient recovery process. Surprisingly, architects did not give much thought to patient safety throughout the twentieth century while designing healthcare facilities; instead, they gave more thought to healthcare providers. Consequently, the architects gave the operational function of the physical space more important than how the patient felt in that space.
Single Rooms or Private Spaces
It is proven that having a private space helps the patient recover fast. It reduces stress and allows the patient to rest. Furthermore, smart glass partitions in the general ward can significantly help in creating privacy and also enable doctors to keep a check through smart glass windows. Instead of using old-fashioned fabric curtains to make a private space, healthcare providers can use electrochromic smart glass. It provides instant privacy on demand with a tap on a switch whenever they want to treat the patient with focus or want the patient to rest without disturbance.
Reduce Noise
Minimizing noise in patient care areas ensures an efficient healing process. Research has shown that noise negatively affects the patient’s recovery. It is noted that an increase in noise leads to elevated blood pressure in the patients and makes it difficult to have sound sleep, which hampers the recovery process. A quieter healing space is created with the aid of smart glass for the patient because it has built-in soundproofing properties.
Exposure to Light
Another positive aspect of the smart glass wall is that it lets the natural light penetrate the patient’s room. It is not hidden how beneficial natural light is for good health. Various types of research conducted in healthcare facilities for 15 years show that patients with a bed by the window recover more quickly than others who did not have natural light exposure. It helps in the absorption of vitamin D, reduces the risk of depression, and improves sleep. Smart glass wall enables all the patients to reap the benefits of natural sunlight and further reach the corridors as well. However, when the patient wishes to sleep, the switchable smart glass can be turned opaque with the remote control, allowing the patient to rest.
Architecture & Design That Heals
Overall the architecture and design of a hospital create a specific atmosphere that has a critical connection to how it makes the patients feel. If it reflects a positive vibe, it will aid in patient recovery. Smart glass technology exactly does that – it ensures that patients’ surroundings can be made private on demand and creates a quiet, safe, and hygienic space to heal.
Smart Healthcare Begins with AV Discovery Smart Glass
Smart glass is a unique material with numerous benefits. This versatile and innovative technology has many applications, from saving energy costs to many other benefits. Use it to create a safe space with special features in healthcare facilities. Find out more about the available smart glass in hospital options at AV Discovery and make smarter decisions for the 21st century’s modern hospital architecture and design.
Installing smart glass in a healthcare facility can go a long way to creating a healthy atmosphere for the patients while maintaining high standards of privacy and hygiene. It not only helps in quick patient recovery but also improves infection control.
