Interior Design and Trust in the Clinical Environment
Saturday, October 14, 2023
10:30 AM – 11:45 AM ET
Location: Falkland (Fourth Floor)
Nonverbal communication is a critical building block of trust in the patient-doctor relationship. Trust, in turn, has significant impacts on patient decision making and feelings of well-being. One unsung aspect of nonverbal communication is the appearance of the clinic. Indeed, visual cues presented in the clinical environment are a largely uninvestigated tool in promoting patient comfort and well-being. While fields like interior design and architecture strive to create such environments, clinical literature on this subject is scarce (although convincing).
While the psychological potential of interior design in the clinical setting has been known and documented since at least 1984, there has been no concentrated effort to investigate and exploit this potential. Therefore, I suggest a concentrated and calculated investigation into how the principles of interior design affect patient trust and well-being in the clinical setting. Specifically, I would like to demonstrate how the effects of the Danish design and mindfulness philosophy of hygge may be applied to the clinical setting to encourage patient well-being, etc.
Today, clinicians regularly bemoan rapid-fire, 10-minute appointments where patients receive only seconds of speaking time. However, a clinic designed using hygge practices and philosophies can enhance patient comfort and well-being at zero time cost during each medical interview. What’s more, in an era where promoting inclusivity and patient-belonging are paramount, visual cues from interior design can be appreciated by all patients. This remains true despite barriers of language, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status that may exist between them and their physician.