In October 2007, the Global Health and Safety Initiative (GHSI) was launched.  The goal was to engage and join together several hospitals and healthcare organizations, non-profit organizations, architectural and engineering firms, academia, and industry and governmental organizations to build a social movement within the healthcare industry to improve patient safety, worker/workplace safety, and environmental health and safety.

To support the initiative Kaiser Permanente asked The Center for Health Design to create an open source searchable web-based database to accomplish the following:

• Create a repository containing Kaiser Permanente’s best practice design strategies that were targeted to achieve desired outcomes in Patient Safety, Worker/Workplace Safety and Environmental Safety. and make them available to a wide audience
• Conduct a literature review and link existing research that supports the strategies
• Document  Kaiser Permanente metrics, when available, before and after construction to illustrate changes in outcomes and cost savings.
• Include case studies, lessons learned and white papers ,to assist others in learning how to apply the standards and achieve the outcomes
• Design the database to have the capability and capacity to expand and allow for ongoing updates from Kaiser Permanente and include the same type of information from other health care organizations.

This database is being built in stages. Kaiser Permanente’s willingness to be transparent and share their design strategies was the impetus for this site. We have started by entering their 150 + design stategies and have linked them to existing research.  We will add the same type of information from the CHD Pebble Partners and other health care organizations which will create a rich repository of knowledge.  As organizaions begin to document their actual results ,comparisons can be made with this information. The database is evolutionary and will be dynamic as we continue to add  new information from multiple health systems.

NOTICE: Design, cultural, operational, and technological strategies found on this site have been used in some situations.  Because there are always unique factors at work for every facility there can be no guarantee that any given strategy will produce the same results in other situations. These strategies will need to be further investigated to help us fully understand their impact. Use this site as a resource to assist you in designing and building your facility.