Supportive or Hindering Physical Environments in Hospital Units Dealing With COVID-19 Patients

Purpose: This project was designed to discover how hospital units with COVID-19 patients influenced staff’s medical practices and health conditions. Background: Although hospital environments have well-known associations with health outcomes, findings are limited in demonstrating the role of physical environments during a global pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional survey study was conducted from three units in a university hospital and a total of 113 staff participated. They rated the impact of physical environments on staff members’ medical practice and their health conditions before and mid-pandemic. They also specified physical changes, hindering and helpful features, and future improvements in open-ended questions. Results: The perceived supportiveness of the physical environments on communication significantly dropped from before-pandemic to midpandemic, followed by mental health and feeling of connection and engagement. Separating COVID-19 patients helped staff workflow, but staff felt disconnected and had poor visibility. Conclusion: Based on painful lessons, interdisciplinary researchers, including healthcare professionals, designers, and administrators, should further collaborate to create supportive hospital environments.