Current Issue

Exploring the Impact of the Physical Environment on Patient Outcomes in Ambulatory Care Settings

by Gowri Betrabet Gulwadi, PhD, Anjali Joseph, PhD, and Amy Beth Keller, March | Sunday, February 01, 2009

Funding Acknowledgment: Research for this project was funded by the California Health Care Foundation. Introduction Recent trends in the delivery of healthcare services have seen a progression toward patient-centered and family-centered initiatives, an increase in the use of medical technology, and new models of providing underserved populations access to quality health services. As care shifts from inpatient to outpatient services, and from treating episodic illnesses to a more longitudinal orientation, primary care facilities or ambulatory care centers (ACCs) are serving increasing numbers of patients (The Lewin Group, 2006). The “medical home” model, with its effective focus on a regular source of care in a familiar, comprehensive, and coordinated system, increasingly is influencing primary/ambulatory care (Starfield & Shi, 2004). Ambulatory care (i.e., outpatient primary, medical, and surgical care services) is wide-ranging and addresses both preventive (e.g., health .../continue/

The Health Environments Research and Design Journal (HERD) is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal whose mission is to enhance the knowledge and practice of evidence-based healthcare design by disseminating research findings, discussing issues and trends, and translating research to practice.
Subscriber Login	Buy Now