Ph.D. student receives prestigious health design research prize

Monica Gripko, a student in Clemson University's Ph.D. in Design and the Built Environment program, was recently awarded The Wilbur H. (Tib) Tusler, Jr. Health Design Research Prize by the Foundation for Health Environments Research.

According to the Foundation, The Wilbur H. (Tib) Tusler, Jr. Health Design Research Prize "recognizes outstanding research in the planning and design of facilities for health."

Gripko's literature review, "Effects of the Physical Environment on Children and Families in Hospital-Based Emergency Departments: A Systematic Literature Review," analyzed 21 peer-reviewed articles and found that the physical environment of the emergency department can enhance patient and family experiences by improving control, offering positive distractions, providing family and social support and supporting feelings of safety and comfort.

"Millions of children visit emergency departments each year," explained Gripko. "These environments are often noisy, stimulating and clinical, which can be countertherapeutic for kids."

Gripko explained that researchers know that healthcare physical environments have an impact on patient experiences and outcomes, but that the research team was unable to find comprehensive literature reviews that explored the relationship between emergency department design and patient and family outcomes.

"We set out to fill that gap, paint a comprehensive picture of the current knowledge on these complex relationships, highlight areas for future research and identify opportunities for improving emergency department design," Gripko shared. "We hope this review can be a starting point and resource for anyone who wants to understand the design for the complexity of pediatric emergency care."

As the 2024 recipient of The Wilbur H. (Tib) Tusler, Jr. Health Design Research Prize, Gripko has been awarded $1,000 and will have her research featured in the Health Environments Research & Design (HERD) journal.

According to the Foundation, the jury for this year's prize was "particularly impressed by the depths of [Gripko's] research and its potential impact on the design of healthcare environments."

For Gripko, this was her first time writing a systematic literature review.

"I had never done a systematic literature review before, so learning about all the steps and documentation involved was quite the experience," she said. "When completing a systematic literature review, you must meticulously document each step and carefully sort and track all the information you collect. Learning to use new tools and strategies to organize everything and manage information efficiently was a fun challenge."

Gripko explained that while research can sometimes be overwhelming, this prize has motivated her to continue to explore and address critical issues in built environment design.