World Hosp Health Serv. 2000 ; 36(2): 31-9, 45-6.

Children in hospital: a design question.

Vavili F.

School of Architecture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. vavili@vergina.eng.auth.gr

Holistic medicine is the global trend in medical care. It involves not only the highest possible standard of diagnosis and treatment, but also designing the whole experience of being ill and that of hospitalization. In such a frame, planning and designing for children has to be considered in such a way that a child will be helped to withstand the effects of illness, the separation from home and family and the entrance into an unusual, unfamiliar and strange world. Although the wellbeing and happiness of children in hospital is the concern of the nursing staff and of the parents, many other factors have to be satisfied also. A young ill child who has to be treated in hospital has to adjust to a number of environmental and treatment conditions which may be upsetting and may have far-reaching effects. Because of all these, much effort has been made, over the last fifty years, to develop planning and design aspects, which will make a child's life in hospital less unnatural. Furthermore, it will reduce the unavoidable and inevitable discomfort, disease, pain and misery experienced by children. These aspects include avoidance of admission of children into hospital whenever possible, operations on a daily basis, unrestricted visits, encouraging of parents to visit or to stay with their children, the provision of suitable playing facilities, materials, equipment etc. This paper will seek to explore and develop: a change in philosophy in child care, its influence on the various types of facilities, the importance of the family, the psychological needs as design factors such as security, social contacts, personal space, movement, comfort, independence, outdoor spaces and others. Factors relating to design parameters and standards will also be explored. The meaning and importance of scale is highlighted since it is felt that children are not miniature adults, but individuals with their own particular capacities.