Lighting for Healthcare

Lighting for Healthcare - Learning Objectives

1. What makes good healthcare lighting?
2. What country has standards for healthcare lighting?
3. What is the wavelength for the color of blood?
   What lighting wavelength is required for detecting sepsis?
   

Healthcare Lighting

Our medical facilities should be designed to provide healthful environments inside and out where staff and patients can have an optimal work and care environment.

A healthy building has lighting designed to do no harm to the occupants nor the environment.

When selecting lighting sources for healthcare, keep in mind, "You cannot see a color unless the wavelength is present in the light source."  We are used to seeing colors in daylight and this is the ultimate light source; however, many clinical settings are in basements or other windowless environments, and also, services are offered after dark. Lighting design for healthcare needs to include specific wavelengths for detecting blood disorders, sepsis, cyanosis , by observation of lips, nail beds and palm creases. The 660 nm wavelength is often associated with the color of human blood. Look for products complying with Cyanosis Observation Index (COI) 
"The algorithm measures the cyanosis observation index (COI) of a luminaire and is an indication of sufficient energy in the 660-nm red area of the SPD and the presence of cyan."  [1]
Dain, Stephen. (2015). The Visual Recognition of Cyanosis and the Influence of Lighting and Color [2]

The bewildering array of light sources and lighting fixture choices is confusing. Understanding how colors appear under different light sources, CRI, CCT, and other metrics for color rendering, and controlling glare are all important lighting challenges.
The Lighting Facts Card describes some qualities of light source. [3] See Color in Light Sources.

Doctors, Nurses, & Volunteers

"Many volunteers are retired, but want to continue to be active in the community.  Doctors and nurses are aging and will need appropriate light to carry out their work.  In 2010, 40% f doctors were over the age of 55, and 33 % of nurses were over the age of 50." [4]

Lighting for Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities | IES

IES RP 29-16 Care Facilities by the Facility Guidelines Institute (FGI).1 Part I of this document addresses the many design considerations important for healthcare facilities, while Part II identifies specific room types that have unique lighting needs.

Light and Health Alliances

The Light and Health Alliance is a collaboration among Members (manufacturers, government organizations and NGOs, codes and standards bodies) and practitioners, including architects, specifiers, medical facility managers and physicians, to enable the broad adoption of lighting for human health by producing factual information based on basic and applied research and by visualizing future applications.
http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/lightHealth/alliance.asp

International Well Building Institute

The way that buildings are designed, constructed and maintained impacts the way we sleep, what we eat, and how we feel. The WELL Building StandardTM uses innovative, research-backed strategies to advance health, happiness, mindfulness and productivity in our buildings and communities.
https://standard.wellcertified.com/light   &  
https://www.wellcertified.com/your-community

Tuning the Light in Senior Care: Evaluating a Trial LED Lighting System at the ACC Care Center in Sacramento, CA

"Residents whose rooms are located in other corridors at the Care Center are now spending time “hanging out” in Cherry Lane, either wheeling themselves to that area or asking a staff member to take them to Cherry Lane."

At the recent IES Light + Health symposium in Atlanta, Connie Samla presented phase two of her Senior Care lighting retrofit study.  This is an example of a very successful application for circadian friendly lighting systems and controls in elder care and memory units.  Connie Samla's project, in Sacramento, was first published in 2016, funded by the Department of Energy and Sacramento Municipal Utility District She is now on phase two of her study. 

Health-Related Outcomes:
..."​For the 3 months following the LED trial installation, target behaviors such as yelling, agitation, and crying were reduced by an average of 41% for the three residents, relative to the 3 months immediately preceding the installation. Nursing staff noted that all three residents had been consistently sleeping through the night since the installation, and noted that one resident now slept through the night in his bed, although he had previously refused to sleep in his bed and instead slept in his wheelchair. ACC staff also noted that psychotropic and sleep medication use had been significantly reduced for one of the residents whose room was included in the trial installation." [5]

Footnotes

1. https://www.ledsmagazine.com/articles/print/volume-14/issue-8/features/human-centric-lighting/speakers-cover-circadian-disruption-to-healthcare-assessment-at-new-conference.html
2. Dain, Stephen. (2015). The Visual Recognition of Cyanosis and the Influence of Lighting and Color Vision. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267213601_The_Visual_Recognition_of_Cyanosis_and_the_Influence_of_Lighting_and_Color_Vision
3. http://www.lightingfacts.com/Library/Content/Label
4. IES RP-28-16 Lighting and the Visual Environment for Seniors and the Low Vision Population  IES.org​
5. Senior Care Lighting Retrofit  https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2016/09/f33/2016_gateway-acc.pdf​​

Photo Credits

• Daysimeter - http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/lightHealth/LightandDaysimeter.asp
• Cherry Lane Corridor - https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2016/09/f33/2016_gateway-acc.pdf
  

Related Topics

Color in Light Sources & LED Comparisons,     Manufacturer's Educational Links, LED for your B&B, Color in Paint - Why they Fade , Human Centric Lighting, Circadian System, Photosensitivity Light Sensitive Drugs, Ecology of Night Lighting, Aging Eye & Senior Lighting, Institutions & Research, Lighting for Healthy Buildings