Home-based primary care : Adaptability criteria for the bedroom layout and the furnitures/technological equipments

Within the past decade, advances in medical technology, the desires and complex care needs of an ageing population, and innovative care delivery models have initiated a shift from providing care in hospitals to outpatient settings. And more recently, the acceleration and amplification of these factors is pushing healthcare options even further from the traditional inpatient and outpatient settings towards acute and subacute care in the home. This has led the medical community to look toward providing more tools and methods of care that patients can access safely right from home and the designers to think as the homes of the future will be flexible to support both an array of devices to provide a healthcare delivery and the humanization and personalization of the domestic space. The paper identifies criteria for the flexible design of the physical environment (including the home, equipment, furniture, etc.) that support and facilitate safety, comfort, and healing, in relation to the various patient populations, at their own physical and psychosocial needs, at the range of equipment/technology (from chronic to acute care), at the caregiving and daily living activities.