Can Intensive Care Staff See Their Patients? An Improved Visibility Analysis Methodology

Abstract

This is a study of the spatial properties of environments to which habitual users are attuned. The particular properties under consideration are those that affect visual fields. The authors tested the proposition that the impact of spatial organization becomes clearer when people focus on a prespecified set of visual targets. Empirical observations were performed to understand how medical staff members occupy space in an intensive care unit. The close correspondence between targeted visibility pattern and aggregated behavior patterns indicates that medical staff members are attentive to the relative visual information of environments. With the refinement of the targeted visibility analysis, the authors can better explain people’s spatial choices and routine behaviors. Furthermore, this study gives an opportunity and related measures for health care facility designers to specify the visual structures of important behavioral effects.