PNNL

Abstract

Lighting systems in patient rooms must balance energy efficiency concerns with the holistic needs of patients, families, and medical caregivers. This paper reports survey responses from 138 individuals working in medical-surgical units in four hospitals, with three of the hospitals having traditional lighting systems and the other hospital having a more contemporary lighting system. The results add to a growing evidence base on the effects of lighting on nurses’ job performance, job satisfaction, and overall perceptions of the environment, and provide evidence that innovative lighting approaches and technologies are worth considering as an investment by hospital administrators looking to improve employees’ and patients’ perceptions of the patient room environment. This knowledge is intended to help facility designers and managers incorporate nurses’ perspectives in their decisions, as well as to inform technologists and engineers developing future generations of lighting systems for patient rooms. These future systems will utilize solid-state lighting technologies, such as LEDs, and will provide new opportunities for adapting the intensity, distribution, and spectrum of light to better satisfy the holistic needs of patients and caregivers at different times of day or night.