Emma Zijlstra, MSc

I'm a PhD student working at the University Medical Center of Groningen and Hanze University of Applied Sciences and I expect to finish my PhD in 2020. My research emphasizes on the influence of the hospital environment on human behavior related to satisfaction and human well-being.

Patients often experience uncertainty and anxiety in hospital settings and therefore I find it important to focus on the patients experience. I'm interested in how the built environments can contribute to human well-being during these stressful periods of life. How can we design a hospital that makes a hospital visit more pleasant and consequently improves the well-being of patients? We are getting answers on this question by questionnaires, observing and interviewing patients. But more importantly, by doing pre- and post-measurements we are able to test whether interventions actually influence patients satisfaction and well-being. Due to this research we are creating a bridge between research and design and are able to create the best hospital environments – Evidence Based Design.