4 Design Tips on How to Make People Love Your Healthcare Facility

Justyna Polaczyk
5 min readJun 10, 2016

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Colorful balloons would cheer up every doctor’s practice. Source: PIXERS

Interior design plays a significant role in everyday life. It brings beauty and harmony to our lives, but it also affects our emotions and perceptions. Do you know that the color of a wall can contribute to our anxiety or can make us feel relaxed?

This is precisely why interior design plays such an important role in healthcare facilities, where patients in addition to feeling bad, often worry about theirs and their loved ones’ health.

Think about it this way — would you rather sit in a cold and unpleasant waiting room, or in a comfortable chair, surrounded by soothing elements The same applies to patients.

We all know that medical skills should draw us to a doctor’s practice, but we can’t help but feel emotionally attached to places that have a good room ambiance. Sometimes a doctor’s talent is not enough to keep patients and attract new ones; good first impression is also very important.

In this post, you’ll find several ideas that can help turn every healthcare facility into a place that patients will love and will be willing to come back.

Tip 1: Cheer it up with plants

White plays a significant role in the interior design of hospitals, clinics, and consulting rooms. No wonder, it’s a great color to brighten up a room and denote cleanness, which has the effect of making patients feel safe.

Even though white is fresh and neutral, it is also considered the coldest color because it reminds us of ice and snow.

Doesn’t sound too pleasant, does it?

To make patients feel relaxed when they visit a facility, this winter needs to be warmed up!

There’s one simple and inexpensive trick that can change an interior beyond recognition: decorating it with plants. The great thing about it is that it works not only for white walls, it can turn every interior into a zen garden!

This St. Dominic Medical Spa green room make us ask: is it a hospital or a hotel?

Green is the color of life and renewal; it is associated with harmony and safety. As it gives the impression of a place with good energy, it’s the most natural choice if we want patients to feel relaxed and optimistic!

This is how Northeast Georgia Medical Center used plants to warm the waiting room up

Tip 2: White is good, but texture is better

It is said that white colors make your room look larger, but there is one more trick to give your room even more space: wall murals.

And no, I’m not talking about the kind of wallpapers we all remember from our grandmothers’ rooms. I’m talking about beautiful, stunning wall murals that can turn any wall into a piece of art.

This PIXERS wall mural would fit every doctor’s practice

There are several advantages of using such a solution.

Thanks to such visual trick a regular room turns into a friendly and spacious place. In addition to that, wall murals are hygienic and washable, which means that they can decorate walls for long years!

Stylish looks isn’t the only benefit of this solution. Sometimes a doctor’s appointment can be stressful, and uplifting decor can help alleviate the tension. Think about it this way: it’s much easier to forget about a dentist’s drill while looking at a blooming cherry blossom.

Tip 3: Do not underestimate coziness

If you want to create warm and cozy atmosphere, you can’t forget about proper furniture. While “less is more” is perfect for healthcare facilities, don’t let it apply to furniture.

Say goodbye to cramp-inducing benches and say hello to sofas, comfortable chairs and coffee tables!

Waiting room arrangement according to The Do

Remember, it’s much better to arrange furniture in small groups because some patients value their privacy. As it allows family members to sit together, it also creates a homier atmosphere!

Tip 4: Remember about little patients

Everyone knows that 15 minutes in a waiting room for an adult is like centuries of boredom for a child. And if that wasn’t enough, little ones are often scared of going to the doctor’s, and a minimalistic interior design will not help in overcoming this fear.

Luckily, there are plenty ways to turn a piece of waiting room into a play zone for children.

A beautiful kids play zone made by Healing Design

A couple of kids chairs, a table and easy to clean toys should do the trick. If you want to encourage kids to do quiet activities, you should stock up on books, crayons and drawing paper.

Last but not least, you should think about choosing the right wall mural for your little patients. Kids love colorful, cheerful patterns, so choosing the right look for your kid play zone shouldn’t be a problem!

This is how a regular room turns into train station thanks to a PIXERS wall mural

Healing atmosphere

Interior design is something much more than just the looks. If you choose the right decor, lightning or wall mural, you can make people feel good and relaxed. It can help you build an emotional connection between you and your patients and — ultimately — it can make them come back to you.

The good thing is that taking care of interior design doesn’t have to translate into economic challenges or time-consuming construction works.

It is possible to turn every medical facility into a lovely place without spending a lot of money. The best way to do that is decorate the facility with plants. Another inexpensive way of turning a waiting room into a patient-friendly area is carving-out a special kids’ zone. Even a small table, a couple of chairs and drawing books can make the difference!

On the other hand, making a complex design doesn’t have to be difficult and time-consuming. There are many services that can help turn your regular office into a sophisticated one. For example, there are companies that do everything from scratch. They design the overall look, provide unique decor elements and take care of their assembly.

There are plenty of ways to turn a hospital, clinic or doctor’s practice into a place where patients will be willing to come back. Some of them are less expensive, some of them — more. The bottom line is to understand that a doctor can have an extra advantage to their practice, which can also help their patients.

It’s the atmosphere, so let’s make sure that it’s awesome.

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Justyna Polaczyk

A copywriter who’s in love with art and fascinated with the modern times. She loves to observe the world through the virtual window.