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 2021-08-01 to 2025-08-01.)

Article	Citations
Pioneering the Use of Tracker Data to Evaluate Lean-Led Hospital Design	29
Balancing Universal Constants With Regional and Cultural Expectations	23
Understanding Post-occupancy Evaluation Processes for Public Healthcare Facilities in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand	19
Could Spatial Awareness Affect Situation Awareness: A Conceptual Examination	17
Outcome Measures: A Fresh Value Proposition for Design	17
Exploring Environmental Considerations for Terminally Ill Pediatric Patients in Palliative Care Inpatient Units: A Narrative Review	16
Coping and Caregiving: Leveraging Environmental Design to Moderate Stress Among Healthcare Workers in the Emergency Department Setting	16
Lean Design of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Patient Room for Efficient and Safe Care Delivery	16
The Impact of Design Factors on User Behavior in a Virtual Hospital Room to Explore Fall Prevention Strategies	15
Executive Summary of Key Concepts	14
Assessing Preparedness of Labor and Delivery Personnel in Transferring to a New Unit	14
Rural and Urban Home Modification Program Users: A Comparative Study	14
Evidence-Based Design in the Hospital Environment: A Staff’s Burnout Study in the COVID-19 Era	12
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
Executive Summary of Key Concepts	11
Investigating Accessibility of Hospitals in Cold Regions: A Case Study of Harbin in China	11
Toward Building Surge Capacity: Potentially Effective Spatial Configurations in Emergency Departments	10
Postoccupancy Evaluation of a New Hospital: The Relationship With Work Engagement	10
Wayfinding in Complex Medical Facilities: The Indexicality of Directional Arrows	10
Placing Users at the Center: Evaluating Exam Room Design for Improved User Experience	10
Identifying Built Environment Risk Factors to Provider Workflow and Patient Safety Using Simulation-Based Evaluation of a Pediatric ICU Room	9
Staff, Patient, and Designer Perspectives on Outpatient Rehabilitation Therapy Environments: A Pilot Study	9
Influence of Hospital Outdoor Space on Physiological Electroencephalography (EEG) Feedback of Staff	9

Designing Worthy Waiting Spaces: A Cross-Cultural Study of Waiting Room Features and Their Impact on Women’s Affective States	8
Costs and Effects of Ineffective Wayfinding in US Hospitals: A Survey of Hospital Staff	8
An Important Resolution for Design and Health	8
Are We Speaking the Same Language? Terminology Consistency in EBD	8
Modeling the Dynamic Outcomes of Infection Prevention Behaviors in an ICU Environment	8
The Effects of the Ward Environment and Language in Palliative Care: A Qualitative Exploratory Study of Victorian Nurses’ Perspectives	8
Patients’ and Nurses’ Experiences of All Single-Room Hospital Accommodation: A Scoping Review	8
Is There an Environment in Virtual Care?	8
Building a Culture of Inquiry in Healthcare Design: Research, Appraisal, and Empowerment Through the RAISE Heuristic Model	8
Teaching and Fostering Design Empathy	8
Exploring Older Adults’ Nighttime Trips to the Bathroom Under Different Lighting Conditions: An Exploratory Field Study	8
Adults’ Visual Cue Preferences and Wayfinding Abilities in Healthcare Centers	7
Assessing Preferences and Perceived Restorative Qualities of Break Spaces for Nurses in China	7
A Study of Children's Color Preferences for Consultation Room Furniture	7
The Impact of Restrictive Family Presence Policies in Response to COVID-19 on Family Integrated Care in the NICU: A Qualitative Study	7
Impact of the Soundscape on the Physical Health and the Perception of Senior Adults in Senior Care Facilities	7
Dementia-Friendly Design: A Set of Design Criteria and Design Typologies Supporting Wayfinding	7
Executive Summary of Key Concepts	6
Supportive or Hindering Physical Environments in Hospital Units Dealing With COVID-19 Patients	6
Innovate and Validate: Design-Led Simulation Optimization to Test Centralized Registration Feasibility in a Multispecialty Clinic	6
Comparing User Perceptions of Surgical Environments: Simulations in a High-Fidelity Physical Mock-Up Versus a Postoccupancy Evaluation	6
Streets and Stress: A Pilot Study on How Quality and Design of Streets Impacts on Urban Stress	6
Differential Obsolescence and Strategic Flexibility	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
Adapting the Australian Environmental Assessment Tool—High Care (EAT-HC): Experiences and Practical Implications From Germany, Japan, and Singapore	6
Executive Summary of Key Concepts	6
A Systematic Review and Conceptual Framework of Biophilic Design Parameters in Clinical Environments	6
A Systematic Approach to Evidence-Based Design for Measurable Health and Wellness Outcomes: Curating and Translating Evidence to Practice	6
Book Review: Ship Sanitation, Health and Hygiene: An Approach to Better Welfare for Modern Seafares	5
Evaluating an Inpatient Created Art Installation on Perceptions of the Physical Environment, Health Status, and Rehabilitation Motivation	5
Evaluation of Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Ability of Medical Buildings in Harbin, China	5
Rethinking the Healthcare Facilities: The Role of the Buffer Space	5
Identifying Optimal Locations for Potential Temporary Community Clinics During Public Health Emergencies	5
Falls Incidence Compared Between a Multibedded Ward Hospital and a 100% Single-Occupancy Room Hospital: An Uncontrolled Before-After Study	5
The Perceived Support From Light and Color Before and After an Evidence-Based Design Intervention in an Emergency Department Environment: A Quasi-Experimental Study	5
Designing for Health in Healthcare Deserts: A Medical City Master Planning Project in Nigeria	5
An Exploratory Study Testing Environmental Wayfinding Aids as an Intervention for Children With Autism	5
Adapting to Change: A Systematic Literature Review of Environmental Flexibility in Emergency Departments	5
Perspectives on Assessing the Flexibility of Hospitals for Crisis Mode Operations: Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Netherlands	5
Analyzing the Layout of Long-Term Care Facilities: A Psycho-Spatial Approach	5
Developing Assistive Bedside Furniture for Early Postoperative Mobilization in a Healthcare Setting With an Attentive Empathetic Design Approach	5
A Choice-Based Design Approach to Influence Beneficial Use of a Green Space by Family Caregivers at a Tertiary Care Hospital in India	5
Housing With Care for Older People: A Scoping Review Using the CASP Assessment Tool to Inform Optimal Design	5
Daylighting and Patients’ Access to View Assessment in the Palestinian Hospitals’ ICUs	5
COVID-19 in Long-Term Care: The Built Environment Impact on Infection Control	5
Anesthesia Workspaces for Safe Medication Practices: Design Guidelines	5
Space Use and the Physical Attributes of Acute Care Units: A Quantitative Study	4
A Scoping Review of Pediatric Healthcare Built Environment Experiences and Preferences Among Children With Disabilities and Their Families	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
Measuring Potential Visual Exposure of Physicians During Shift-End Handoffs and Its Impact on Interruptions, Privacy, and Collaboration	4
A Conceptual Framework for Sustainable Evidence-Based Design for Aligning Therapeutic and Sustainability Outcomes in Healthcare Facilities: A Systematic Literature Review	4
Seating in Doctors’ Waiting Rooms: Has COVID-19 Changed Our Choices?	4
The Impact of a Dementia-Friendly Garden Design on People With Dementia in a Residential Aged Care Facility: A Case Study	4
Differences in Nurses’ Satisfaction and Demand for Spatial Design Among Different Departments of Nursing Units: A Case Study in China	4
Utilizing Agent-Based Modeling for Optimization of Wayfinding in Hospital: A Case Study	4
From Stressful to Mindful: Reactions to a Proposed Emergency Department Design for Enhancing Mindfulness and Stress Reduction Among Healthcare Clinical Staff	4
Book Review: Environment-behavior studies for healthcare design Suining Ding. (2023). Environment- behavior studies for healthcare design . Routledge, Taylor and Francis	4
Design Strategies to Foster Improved Experiences for Patients in Rehabilitation	4
The Reorganization of a Psychiatric Unit During COVID-19: A Reflection for Psychiatric Hospital Design	4
Method to Understand Value Generation in Healthcare Built Environments Based on the Means-End Chain Approach	4
Incorporating Patient and Family Perspectives into ICU Environmental Design: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis of Existing Literature	4
Biophilic Design and Its Effectiveness in Creating Emotional Well-Being, Green Satisfaction, and Workplace Attachment Among Healthcare Professionals: The Hospice Context	4
Design for an Evolving Patient Experience	4
Maternity Healthscapes: Conceptualization and Index Development	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
Color and NICU Design	4