Soheyla Gorji presenting at the symposium. Image: Soheyla Gorji

Symposium on the role of design in preventing and mitigating violence in healthcare settings

By Sheila J. Bosch and Soheyla Gorji

May 23, 2019. Increasingly, physicians and nurses face verbal and physical attacks, often resulting in psychological harm, injury or even death, inflicted by the very patients they serve. While most strategies aimed at reducing violence against healthcare professionals target operational or law enforcement interventions, the role of the physical environment should not be ignored. To address this pervasive problem, Soheyal Gorgi, doctoral student in the University of Florida’s Department of Interior Design, organized a symposium at the recent Environmental Design Research Association’s annual conference in Brooklyn, NY. Ms. Gorji and Dr. Sheila Bosch (University of Florida) presented a systematic review of the literature they completed on this important topic, which organized design strategies according to the principals of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design. Dr. Debajyoti Pati (Texas Tech University) shared findings from a study in which he and his colleagues identified physical design attributes that potentially influence the safety and efficiency of emergency department operations. Dr. Mardelle Shepley (Cornell University) presented a recent research project on the importance and effectiveness of environmental qualities and features in mental and behavioral settings and their relationship to staff safety in the emergency department setting. Dr. Shabboo Valipoor, (University of Florida) closed out the session with a presentation on complementary design strategies for disaster planning and solutions for security enhancement. Participants engaged in a lively discussion about how designers and researchers can better protect the clinical staff.