Physical environmental stimuli that turn healthcare facilities into healing environments through psychologically mediated effects: systematic review

Studies that manipulate several environmental stimuli simultaneously clearly support the general notion that the physical healthcare environment affects the well-being of patients. However, when scrutinizing the effects of specific environmental stimuli, conclusive evidence is still very limited and difficult to generalize. The field thus appears to be in urgent need of well-conducted, controlled clinical trials. At present, and on the basis of the available research, it would be premature to formulate evidence-based guidelines for designing healthcare environments.