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Effective, Energy-Efficient Lighting for Healthcare
Buildings that are generally considered to be "healthcare" facilities include hospitals, doctors' offices, clinics, and assisted living facilities such as nursing homes. Some of the lighting in these facilities is very specialized (e.g., lighting for surgical suites), but lighting for other areas such as examination rooms, treatment rooms, nursing stations, and reception areas can be easily designed if a few
important factors are kept in mind.
Lighting in a healthcare facility should be designed to meet the needs of both the patients and the staff who care for them. Patients want lighting that is comfortable, relaxed, and designed to meet the needs of wide range of ages and visual abilities. Caregivers such as doctors, nurses, and therapists require lighting that is comfortable, well distributed, and that provides the amount of light they need to perform complex and difficult tasks.
Your contractor should keep the following factors in mind when selecting lighting for a healthcare facility:
- Lighting should be bright and should evenly light spaces. It is important for healthcare facilities to be brightly and evenly lighted. Your contractor should carefully consider the amount of light provided, especially in examination rooms, and provide supplemental task lighting for doctors and nurses where needed. It is also important that rooms and corridors be evenly lighted-not too bright in some areas and too dim in others. Many patients in these spaces will be older and will need light that is bright and evenly distributed to safely move around the building. Therefore, it is important that your contractor install lighting fixtures according to manufacturers' "spacing criteria," including mounting fixtures close enough to walls so the light from the fixtures can evenly "wash" down these surfaces and be reflected into the room.
- Lamps should render colors naturally. When your contractor is selecting lighting for spaces where examinations will take place, it is important to choose lamps (light bulbs) that make colors, especially skin tones, appear as "natural" as possible. The measure to look for when selecting lamps that will render colors accurately is CRI (color rendering index). This is found on a lamp's packaging or in the manufacturer's catalog. CRI of lamp ranges from a low of 1 to high of 100. In healthcare facilities, your contractor should select lamps with a CRI of 80 or above. There are incandescent, halogen, fluorescent, and metal halide lamps that meet this CRI value.
- Fixtures should limit glare and direct view of lamps. The Small Commercial Lighting Program has developed a measure that will help your contractor select fixtures that reduce or eliminate glare (uncomfortable brightness). Glare not only makes tasks more difficult for patients and healthcare professionals to see but also contributes to eye strain, visual fatigue, and headaches. Your contractor should look for lighting fixtures that conceal the lamps within them from a person's view using baffles, louvers, or other similar devices. This can help assure that a lighting installation will work well for patients, nurses, and doctors.
Read the case studies below to see how improved lighting can affect your businesses' operations and bottom line.
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