OOIR: Observatory of International Research

Papers

(The TQCC of HERD-Health Environments Research & Design Journal is 4. The table below lists those papers that are above that threshold based on CrossRef citation counts [max. 250 papers]. The publications cover those that have been published in the past four years, i.e., from 2021-09-01 to 2025-09-01.)

Article	Citations
Pioneering the Use of Tracker Data to Evaluate Lean-Led Hospital Design	30
Balancing Universal Constants With Regional and Cultural Expectations	24
Outcome Measures: A Fresh Value Proposition for Design	19
Lean Design of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Patient Room for Efficient and Safe Care Delivery	17
Could Spatial Awareness Affect Situation Awareness: A Conceptual Examination	17
Understanding Post-occupancy Evaluation Processes for Public Healthcare Facilities in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand	16
Coping and Caregiving: Leveraging Environmental Design to Moderate Stress Among Healthcare Workers in the Emergency Department Setting	16
Exploring Environmental Considerations for Terminally Ill Pediatric Patients in Palliative Care Inpatient Units: A Narrative Review	16
Rural and Urban Home Modification Program Users: A Comparative Study	14
The Impact of Design Factors on User Behavior in a Virtual Hospital Room to Explore Fall Prevention Strategies	14
Executive Summary of Key Concepts	14
Assessing Preparedness of Labor and Delivery Personnel in Transferring to a New Unit	13
A Systematic Literature Review on Healthcare Facility Evaluation Methods	12
The Built Environment Influence on Resilient Healthcare: A Systematic Literature Review of Design Knowledge	12
Sources of Innovation in Healthcare Design: How Can it Happen?	12
Evidence-Based Design in the Hospital Environment: A Staff’s Burnout Study in the COVID-19 Era	12
Investigating Accessibility of Hospitals in Cold Regions: A Case Study of Harbin in China	11
Predicting Leisure Walking Intentions Among Older Adults in Urban Residential Areas: Extended Theory of Planned Behavior and Health Belief Model	11
Staff, Patient, and Designer Perspectives on Outpatient Rehabilitation Therapy Environments: A Pilot Study	10
Identifying Built Environment Risk Factors to Provider Workflow and Patient Safety Using Simulation-Based Evaluation of a Pediatric ICU Room	10
Postoccupancy Evaluation of a New Hospital: The Relationship With Work Engagement	10
Placing Users at the Center: Evaluating Exam Room Design for Improved User Experience	9
Are We Speaking the Same Language? Terminology Consistency in EBD	9
Toward Building Surge Capacity: Potentially Effective Spatial Configurations in Emergency Departments	9
Executive Summary of Key Concepts	9

Wayfinding in Complex Medical Facilities: The Indexicality of Directional Arrows	9
Is There an Environment in Virtual Care?	9
Designing Worthy Waiting Spaces: A Cross-Cultural Study of Waiting Room Features and Their Impact on Women’s Affective States	8
Building a Culture of Inquiry in Healthcare Design: Research, Appraisal, and Empowerment Through the RAISE Heuristic Model	8
An Important Resolution for Design and Health	8
Adults’ Visual Cue Preferences and Wayfinding Abilities in Healthcare Centers	8
Costs and Effects of Ineffective Wayfinding in US Hospitals: A Survey of Hospital Staff	8
Dementia-Friendly Design: A Set of Design Criteria and Design Typologies Supporting Wayfinding	8
Patients’ and Nurses’ Experiences of All Single-Room Hospital Accommodation: A Scoping Review	8
Modeling the Dynamic Outcomes of Infection Prevention Behaviors in an ICU Environment	8
Exploring Older Adults’ Nighttime Trips to the Bathroom Under Different Lighting Conditions: An Exploratory Field Study	8
Teaching and Fostering Design Empathy	8
A Study of Children's Color Preferences for Consultation Room Furniture	8
Assessing Preferences and Perceived Restorative Qualities of Break Spaces for Nurses in China	7
The Effects of the Ward Environment and Language in Palliative Care: A Qualitative Exploratory Study of Victorian Nurses’ Perspectives	7
Innovate and Validate: Design-Led Simulation Optimization to Test Centralized Registration Feasibility in a Multispecialty Clinic	7
Executive Summary of Key Concepts	7
The Impact of Restrictive Family Presence Policies in Response to COVID-19 on Family Integrated Care in the NICU: A Qualitative Study	7
Supportive or Hindering Physical Environments in Hospital Units Dealing With COVID-19 Patients	7
A Systematic Review and Conceptual Framework of Biophilic Design Parameters in Clinical Environments	7
Impact of the Soundscape on the Physical Health and the Perception of Senior Adults in Senior Care Facilities	7
Differential Obsolescence and Strategic Flexibility	7
Adapting the Australian Environmental Assessment Tool—High Care (EAT-HC): Experiences and Practical Implications From Germany, Japan, and Singapore	7
Comparing User Perceptions of Surgical Environments: Simulations in a High-Fidelity Physical Mock-Up Versus a Postoccupancy Evaluation	6
Executive Summary of Key Concepts	6
A Systematic Approach to Evidence-Based Design for Measurable Health and Wellness Outcomes: Curating and Translating Evidence to Practice	6
The Perceived Support From Light and Color Before and After an Evidence-Based Design Intervention in an Emergency Department Environment: A Quasi-Experimental Study	6
Biophilic Design: Healthy Buildings, Healthy Brain	6
Exploring Campus Configuration and Patient Arrival Behaviors at Large Hospitals: An Integrated Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) Protocol	6
Elevating Nursing Research for Healthcare Environments	6
A Choice-Based Design Approach to Influence Beneficial Use of a Green Space by Family Caregivers at a Tertiary Care Hospital in India	6
A Collaborative Communities-of-Practice Methodology for Environmental Design Research: A Case Study Application in Palliative Care	6
Patient Room Design: Engaging Clinical Teams Through Iterative Simulation-Based Evaluation	6
Book Review: Ship Sanitation, Health and Hygiene: An Approach to Better Welfare for Modern Seafares	6
Streets and Stress: A Pilot Study on How Quality and Design of Streets Impacts on Urban Stress	6
Adapting to Change: A Systematic Literature Review of Environmental Flexibility in Emergency Departments	5
COVID-19 in Long-Term Care: The Built Environment Impact on Infection Control	5
Evaluation of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Ability of Medical Buildings in Harbin, China	5
Evaluating an Inpatient Created Art Installation on Perceptions of the Physical Environment, Health Status, and Rehabilitation Motivation	5
Developing Assistive Bedside Furniture for Early Postoperative Mobilization in a Healthcare Setting With an Attentive Empathetic Design Approach	5
Daylighting and Patients’ Access to View Assessment in the Palestinian Hospitals’ ICUs	5
Falls Incidence Compared Between a Multibedded Ward Hospital and a 100% Single-Occupancy Room Hospital: An Uncontrolled Before-After Study	5
Perspectives on Assessing the Flexibility of Hospitals for Crisis Mode Operations: Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Netherlands	5
Housing With Care for Older People: A Scoping Review Using the CASP Assessment Tool to Inform Optimal Design	5
An Exploratory Study Testing Environmental Wayfinding Aids as an Intervention for Children With Autism	5
Identifying Optimal Locations for Potential Temporary Community Clinics During Public Health Emergencies	5
Rethinking the Healthcare Facilities: The Role of the Buffer Space	5
Anesthesia Workspaces for Safe Medication Practices: Design Guidelines	5
Designing for Health in Healthcare Deserts: A Medical City Master Planning Project in Nigeria	5
Color and NICU Design	4

A Scoping Review of Pediatric Healthcare Built Environment Experiences and Preferences Among Children With Disabilities and Their Families	4
Analyzing the Layout of Long-Term Care Facilities: A Psycho-Spatial Approach	4
Differences in Nurses’ Satisfaction and Demand for Spatial Design Among Different Departments of Nursing Units: A Case Study in China	4
Design Strategies to Foster Improved Experiences for Patients in Rehabilitation	4
Designing for Well-Being in Pediatric Patients Scheduled for Surgery	4
Design for an Evolving Patient Experience	4
Seating in Doctors’ Waiting Rooms: Has COVID-19 Changed Our Choices?	4
Book Review: Environment-behavior studies for healthcare design Suining Ding. (2023). Environment- behavior studies for healthcare design . Routledge, Taylor and Francis	4
A Conceptual Framework for Sustainable Evidence-Based Design for Aligning Therapeutic and Sustainability Outcomes in Healthcare Facilities: A Systematic Literature Review	4
From Challenges to Innovations: Expert Insights in Pediatric Healthcare Design	4
Using Space Syntax Analysis to Measure Patient Aggression Risk	4
Salutogenic Architecture, Non-Therapeutic Environments and the Health of the Elderly: A Systematic Review	4
Constructing Research: A Theoretical Perspective on Research and Creativity in Architecture	4
The Impact of a Dementia-Friendly Garden Design on People With Dementia in a Residential Aged Care Facility: A Case Study	4
A Computational Approach to Estimating Healthcare Contact Surface Material Resilience	4
Space Use and the Physical Attributes of Acute Care Units: A Quantitative Study	4
From Stressful to Mindful: Reactions to a Proposed Emergency Department Design for Enhancing Mindfulness and Stress Reduction Among Healthcare Clinical Staff	4
Biophilic Design and Its Effectiveness in Creating Emotional Well-Being, Green Satisfaction, and Workplace Attachment Among Healthcare Professionals: The Hospice Context	4
Method to Understand Value Generation in Healthcare Built Environments Based on the Means-End Chain Approach	4
Utilizing Agent-Based Modeling for Optimization of Wayfinding in Hospital: A Case Study	4
Measuring Potential Visual Exposure of Physicians During Shift-End Handoffs and Its Impact on Interruptions, Privacy, and Collaboration	4
The Reorganization of a Psychiatric Unit During COVID-19: A Reflection for Psychiatric Hospital Design	4
Understanding the Influence of Window Views, Plantscapes, and Green Décor in Virtual Reality Hospital Rooms on Simulated Acute-Care Patients’ Stress Recovery and Relaxation Responses	4
Incorporating Patient and Family Perspectives into ICU Environmental Design: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis of Existing Literature	4
Designing Palliative Care Facilities to Better Support Patient and Family Care: A Staff Perspective	4