Lighting design for hospitals and medical facilities requires considerable care to make the design aesthetically pleasing and meet the requirements for patient safety, regulatory compliance, and energy efficiency. Insufficient lighting may create accidents or mistakes that cause excessive liability for a healthcare facility operator.
Appropriate lighting improves patient safety with greater visibility, helping prevent slip-and-fall accidents in hallways and patient rooms. In hospitals, many specialized lighting areas are needed. For example, surgical procedures require high-intensity lighting that the surgical team can refocus as needed.
NetZero Energy lighting design engineers help clients perform safety audits and manage hospital lighting installations (retrofits and new construction). Keep reading to learn more about the special requirements needed for hospital lighting.
Industrial Compliance Standards for Hospital Lighting
Three industrial standards organizations need to be followed for hospital lighting, which are the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).
Illuminating Engineering Society
IES calls itself “The Lighting Authority.” For hospital lighting, IES standards give the minimum illuminance levels for different areas, such as hallways, waiting rooms, patient rooms, exam rooms, and surgical/operating rooms.
IES published a helpful report called Transforming Healthcare and Wellbeing through Lighting, which covered light and health research, the circadian phase response to light, and using dynamic lighting to improve patient outcomes.
American National Standards Institute
ANSI sets hospital lighting quality standards, which include concerns about proper color rendering and glare. Health practitioners need accurate color rendering of light for appropriate diagnosis and treatment. Excessive glare may cause discomfort and lead to errors in patient care.
IES creates the standards that are published by ANSI as ANSI/IES RP-29-20: Lighting for Hospitals and Health Care Facilities.
Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
JCAHO sets hospital lighting and other standards to pursue national patient safety goals. A hospital must achieve these standards to become accredited by the Joint Commission and maintain them to remain in good standing as a JCAHO-accredited institution.
Hospital Lighting Challenges
Hospitals face budget challenges, especially when retrofitting older buildings with modern lighting solutions. There is a strong need to balance energy efficiency with effective hospital lighting.
Retrofitting a hospital facility to change from traditional lighting to LED lighting has the advantage that the new LED system may pay for itself over time due to the cost savings associated with reduced energy use. LEDs are highly energy efficient, using up to 90% less energy than traditional light bulbs while creating the same level of luminance.
It makes sense to install NetZero Energy’s efficient LED lighting systems, which meet compliance standards and have the required luminance. Advanced lighting controls for dimming, motion sensing, and automatic seasonal adjustments also add benefits.
Even though the investment in a new LED system may be significant, the return on investment, captured by energy use reductions, may also be substantial.
Best Practices for Hospital Lighting
To maintain compliance with hospital lighting systems and maximize their benefits, NetZero Energy engineers recommend regular assessments through energy audits. An energy audit searches the facility for lighting that is not up to standards and provides a full report with insights into where energy usage may be reduced to lower utility bills without negatively impacting patient care.
Conducting an annual energy audit helps identify where problems exist and the available solutions. For example, commercial LED light bulbs can last up to 25,000 hours of continuous use or more. There are high-quality LED bulbs that may last for up to 100,000 hours of use. The additional savings for using these long-lasting LED lightbulbs is the reduced maintenance costs of changing them.
Better Health Through Better Lighting
Research has shown that hospital lighting affects patients' moods and pain when it interferes with circadian rhythms and sleep patterns. A study by the Cleveland Clinic’s Nursing Institute found that patients who received less daytime light exposure had worse moods, higher fatigue, and more pain compared to other patients with better lighting in their rooms.
Hospital patients are already under stress from their medical conditions, and not receiving enough natural bright light may increase their stress levels.
See a list of examples below of beneficial elements used in creating a modern hospital lighting system.
Full-spectrum LED lighting
Ask the engineers at NetZero Energy about full-spectrum LED lighting and skylights that perfectly mimic natural sunlight. This kind of light helps us feel better, regulates our sleeping-waking cycles, and promotes the production of Vitamin D in the body. Integrating this lighting source into a hospital setting would have a positive impact on patient outcomes.
Motion Sensors
Motion sensors are helpful in managing areas that are not actively used by patients or staff at certain times of the day or night. The lights come on when people are there and automatically turn off when they are not. This simple concept can save significant money wasted on lighting rooms and areas that are not occupied. Safety lights that direct people to emergency exits can stay on.
Exterior Lighting
Exterior lighting should not be overlooked for a hospital—your staff may arrive and leave at night, and well-lit parking areas may help deter crime.
Those are just a few ideas to get the creative energy flowing. Need support with your lighting setup? NetZero is ready to help with an energy audit if you need one and create a quote for an LED retrofit conversion project.
If you’re planning on building a new facility, we are ready to help you make a plan to light it up. Connect with one of our NetZero Energy expert engineers for any of your hospital lighting questions.