Designing Smart Rooms for Veterans: Embracing the Principles of Trauma-Informed Design

Trauma-informed care and design are emerging disciplines in healthcare. Trauma-informed care (TIC) promotes healing and recovery and avoids practices that may re-traumatize the patient. A derivative of TIC is trauma-informed design.

Trauma-informed design constructs an environment that promotes healing and evokes psychological and physical safety, connectivity, empowerment, self-worth and happiness. The VA takes trauma-informed design to heart, incorporating patient-centered technology and features throughout its facilities and patient rooms.

Each year, the VA serves more than 27,000 veterans with spinal cord injuries (SCI), making it the world’s largest health system providing lifelong SCI care. In many cases, veterans with spinal cord injuries are long-term residents. These veterans may stay in an SCI unit for months or even years. Their daily living and care environment must be conducive to promoting each veteran’s independence and quality of life.

To provide this personalized experience, VA hospitals are intentional about the design of the SCI unit and patient rooms. This commitment includes the use of eVideon’s Vibe Health Engage, Digital Signage and Digital Whiteboard solutions with four specific goals in mind.

Key Considerations for Trauma-Informed Design in Smart Patient Rooms

The team at eVideon understands the basic components of creating an exceptional experience for veterans and their families. In working with the VA to design and implement smart room technology, we considered critical traits that adhere to the principles of trauma-informed design.

Flexibility
It is imperative that the design of patient rooms is flexible to support specialized experiences for patients and their families. Specifically for SCI patients who often require ongoing assistance and dedicated care, smart patient rooms should give veterans much-desired autonomy and empowerment to control their environment. Here are two examples.

Interactive TVs with autonomous control units allow veterans to control their room environment, watch TV, engage with educational videos, order meals, and more. The system is also integrated with assistive devices such as sip-and-puff, eye gaze, and voice controls.

Our Clinical Solutions Director spoke on a recent webinar, saying, “Spinal cord injury patients lose a lot of control in their lives… they usually have to call a staff member to control the TV. The ability to manage something as simple as changing a TV station was an awesome experience for these patients and their families.”

Consistency
Messaging, communication and education for VA patients should be consistent and relevant. For example, educational training in the SCI unit includes topics such as healthy eating, addiction, mental health and suicide prevention. Furthermore, the clinical team is equipped with a workflow process to follow up training units with in-person patient conversations.

Engagement
Veterans depend on their families as crucial members of their extended care team. Connectivity, a tenet of trauma-informed design, helps patients feel supported throughout their care journey. The VA equips family members to support ongoing care, whether long-term in an SCI unit or in post-acute healthcare environments.

Vibe Health Engage TV promotes activities that both patients and their families can participate in. This includes learning and educational videos to help families provide ongoing care and support for their loved ones.

Recognition
Showing appreciation and gratitude for veterans is extremely powerful in their extended well-being and overall care. In trauma-informed design, this directly impacts psychological safety and a sense of self-worth. At the VA, consistent messages of recognition are purposefully built into the design of the patient room environment.

Using Vibe Health Engage TV and Insight digital whiteboards, patient rooms and living spaces include the veterans’ branches of service and messages of gratefulness. One particular VA facility uses Vibe Health Banner digital signage to display custom videos of staff expressing their personal appreciation for veterans’ service during Veterans Week.

These four traits – flexibility, consistency, engagement and recognition – lay the groundwork for safer and more patient-centered care environments for our Veterans, their families, clinicians and staff. One that supports their ongoing care, empowerment and healing. We are proud to serve these patients who selflessly have served our nation.