Healthcare Design: Introduction & Books

Healthcare Design incorporates multiple disciplines. While rooted in architecture and interior design, it often integrates medical research to produce evidence-based designs.

To uncover relevant medical studies, designers search outside traditional design publications and into the scientific literature. Successfully navigating these databases and resources may require learning the vocabulary of other disciplines. This guide will direct designers to pertinent research tools and provide suggested terminology applicable to healthcare design. These search terms are not comprehensive and additional investigations are likely necessary.

Additional resources on Journals & Databases and websites are accessed on the left. Additional design-focused resources can be found on the Architecture Library Resource Guide.

On Campus Access

Kent State University Libraries provides online access to the following FGI guidelines:

1) 2022 Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospitals

2) 2022 Guidelines for Design and Construction of Outpatient Facilities

3) 2022 Guidelines for Design and Construction of Residential Health, Care, and Support Facilities.

NOTE: The KSU license is limited to 3 simultaneous users. If you cannot access the ebooks, please try again at another time.

Off Campus Access

Currently, off campus access to FGI guidelines requires connecting to the KSU VPN (Global Protect). Visit this help page for the VPN software and setup instructions

Once installed and set up, log into the Global Protect VPN and visit the links above.

Discovery@Kent State

Discovery@Kent State simultaneously searches KentLINK, OhioLINK, and several databases.   It retrieves books, ebook, journal articles, and other items.  Discovery may uncover cross-disciplinary research due to its broad data set. However, it is just one option among several research tools.  Utilizing more narrowly focused tools, such as the catalogs and individual databases, can sometimes be more effective and efficient in locating relevant results.

KentLINK and OhioLINK Catalogs

The KentLINK and OhioLINK catalogs retrieve books and ebooks in the collections of Kent State and other Ohio universities.  Individual journal articles cannot be found using these catalogs.

The following subject headings may serve as starting points in KentLINK and OhioLINK:

Consult your subject librarian for additional search suggestions or view these library tutorials.