Healthcare
Achieve Energy Wellness
The idea that the hospital environment is an important part of the healing process for patients has become mainstay in the healthcare industry. A number of studies indicate that the design of a healthcare facility has a significant positive impact on measures like patient satisfaction, staff morale, medical error rates, infection rates, staff turnover, patient length-of-stay, and ultimately, financial performance.
Improve Your Mood
Lighting and temperature are consistently listed as one of a handful of environmental factors that significantly contribute to the overall healthcare environment. Research has found that medication dispensing errors are lower when the level of work surface lighting is relatively high, compared to situations with lower levels of lighting. Exposure to natural light reduces patient’s pain and medication requirements. Natural, circadian rhythms of daytime and nighttime light allow patients to sleep and heal more effectively. Exposure to light is effective in improving mood and reducing depression. When communicating with patients and families, people feel more comfortable and talk longer in rooms with dim lighting. Finally, patients identify adequate lighting as one component affecting their overall satisfaction with their hospital stays. [1]
Having Convia in a hospital setting gives patients direct control of their environment and the freedom to express their lighting preferences. If a patient is incapacitated, lighting can be controlled from the nurses station though the Global Gateway. Occupancy sensors can also be used to make the patient room safer by automatically adjusting lighting levels when patients get out of bed. These same occupancy sensors can notify staff if the patient is mobile.
Improve Your Productivity
Staff members benefit because Convia allows hospitals to simply and easily adjust lighting levels throughout the day to help staff members on all shifts stay productive. Lack of support from the physical environment can make already stressful working conditions worse. With Convia’s Global Gateway, facility managers can give staff control of their own workspace lighting and temperature, thereby increasing staff satisfaction and potentially reducing the cost of staff turnover.
Improve the Health of Your Bottom Line
Administrative staff and facility managers profit because room and lighting configurations can be easily adapted with Convia Enabled products by Wiremold without having to disrupt the everyday workings of the healthcare facility. With Convia, you eliminate the need to tear down drywall and worry about air-borne pathogens caused by construction when reconfiguring a space. Convia is a plug-and-play system, so components are easily moved and zones are reprogrammed with a push of the button on a Convia Wand.
With Convia’s Energy track reporting tool, you can get information about how much energy your facility is using and make adjustments accordingly. Vigorous reporting can also act as an early warning system with regards to system or equipment failure, and lets facility managers make consistent and reliable decisions regarding building operations and control schedules. When data shows a drop in performance, this can be an indication of a breakdown that warrants further investigation.
We understand that professionals in healthcare want to deliver a highly functional environment balanced with a commitment to financial and community responsibility. With Convia, you can be assured that your physical environment will endure and adapt to that challenge.
[1] Spring 2008 issue of HERD (Health Environments Research and Design Journal), Vol. 1, No. 3.
