Two Texas A&M College of Architecture faculty members contributed articles to the winter 2008 issue of HERD, the Health Environments Research & Design Journal.
D. Kirk Hamilton, FAIA, FACHA, a professor of architecture at Texas A&M, is the publication’s co-editor with Jaynelle Stichler, associate professor of nursing at San Diego State University.
Hamilton and Stichler wrote “Evidence-Based Design: What is it?” They write, “The purpose of evidence-based design is to make use of data from multiple credible sources to guide design-related decisions with the ultimate goal of improving the patient care experience, the staff work environment, and organizational performance.”
Mardelle Shepley, director of the Texas A&M University Center for Health Systems & Design and professor of architecture, wrote “Healthcare Architects' Professional Autonomy: Interview Case Studies,” with Duk-Su Kim, a lecturer at Hanbat University in South Korea.
Two main relationships were discovered from interviews and focus groups, Shepley and Kim explain. “One was the relationship between the context of healthcare design complexity and the culture of healthcare design practice. The other was the relationship between changing professional attitudes and the consequences of changes in the profession.”
