Health. Care. | An Educational Blog

In Washington, a panel is meeting to discuss the future of the US Public Health System. Public health systems came under increased scrutiny during the COVID pandemic, spurring the panel to convene and  determine ways to make the system more efficient and effective. This is no simple task. The public health system is a network of public, private, and voluntary agencies whose shared goal of community well-being belie the complicated structure and organization behind them. In today's post, we'll take a closer look at the goals of public health, the entities that make up the public health system, and the way they intersect with hospital infection control.

Today's hospital beds are a product of 1800s innovation, steadily improving with each decade's advancements in health care, engineering, and technology. Patient beds today not only provide a place for rest and recuperation, they can actually improve patient outcomes and prevent medical complications. In today's post, we'll look at some of those improvements and suggest directions for the future.

Anyone familiar with hospitals knows that design impacts operations. How people - both healthcare workers and patients - move through the space affects how well they can do their jobs, how quickly patients can receive treatments, and how visitors can know where to go. More specifically, there are two areas of hospital design that can impact patient outcomes. Spaces can be designed to reduce exposure to dangerous pathogens which could lead to hospital associated infections (HAIs) and spaces can be designed to bring nature inside in order to help the healing process. Both design goals are important, trending issues in design. But can a designer meet the needs of both infection control and biophillic design at the same time?

A hospital is one of the most, if not the most, regulated environments in our nation. Due to the complexity of services, equipment, usage, and upkeep, hospitals and healthcare facilities must meet the standards set by a number of federal, state, and local laws, agencies, and regulators. In today's post, we'll look at some of the more visible groups keeping hospitals safe, as well as some that may surprise you.

We love infographics. The way one image can convey complex information in an accessible, shareable format makes infographics one of the quickest growing trends to hit publishing in a very long time. In today’s post, we focus our love of infographics on our favorites published this year dealing with health topics. Some of these images are educational, others are inspirational, while others tell a cautionary tale. (We feel the best ones do all three!) Have a look at our picks, then suggest any we may have left out!