Between Research and Practice: a Literature Review Protocol for examining practical implications of EBD Research studies

Abstract

The importance of the design of healthcare facilities stems from the impact that the physical attributes of healthcare settings can have on patients' health outcomes. Decades of research since Ulrich's groundbreaking 1984 study have shown that the built environment of healthcare facilities significantly influences numerous health outcomes for patients, visitors, staff and organisations. While Evidence-Based Design (EBD) studies offer many potential benefits for designing healthcare facilities, the field is sometimes criticised for having a narrow focus and offering isolated, fragmented and sometimes conflicting results that are difficult to understand and apply in design practice. To bridge this gap, the researchers often provide implications of their results for practice in their published articles. This study aims to examine these practical implications in published EBD research articles in the last ten years. The presented research protocol outlines the steps that will be adopted to achieve this. The aim of this approach is threefold: (1) to classify and evaluate the implications for practice presented in research articles based on built environment variables and outcomes, (2) to provide a synthesis of research implications for practice to be used by all involved in the process of planning healthcare facilities and (3) to detect research trends during one decade of EBD research. Health Environments Research & Design (HERD) Journal is the starting point of this investigation as it includes articles strictly related to healthcare environment design research and requires all authors to submit a bulleted list of implications for practice. The resulting review is expected to provide insights into the recommendations for practice proposed by EBD researchers based on their research results.