Does Space Matter? An Exploratory Study for a Child-Adolescent Mental Health Inpatient Unit.

Objective: The aim of this study is to explore design elements and spaces as a contributing influence to behavior and well-being for patients, staff, and families in a child-adolescent mental health unit.

Background: The University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital Child-Adolescent Mental Health Inpatient Unit embarked on a renovation project to relocate the hospital's child and adolescent mental health units. Evidence-based strategies were employed for the design of the new unit to enhance the experience for patients, staff, and families and to support changes in operational and procedural strategies.

Application of space syntax theory in the study of medical-surgical nursing units in urban hospitals.

Unlabelled: Additional research is needed to explore how the design of urban, medical-surgical nursing units influences communication patterns, perceptions of social support, and overall job satisfaction for nurses. Space syntax theory has typically been used to study communication in office environments; more recently, it has been applied to the study of healthcare environments. The purpose of this study was to explore the applicability of space syntax theory as a theoretical framework for studying nurses' communication in medical-surgical nursing units in urban hospitals.