Special Considerations of Walls in Health Care

Just as linear drains have been designed to address the hospital need for effective water management in barrier-free showers, a new printed wall solution has been designed to satisfy the hospital demand for walls that contribute toward the carefully crafted healing aesthetic, while offering enough durability to withstand the daily wear and tear that can occur in high-traffic areas filled with rolling patient beds, wheelchairs, and equipment carts.

Promote Healing with Digital Art

The notion that art may make a positive impact in the health-care environment is not new or novel. In the introduction of “Visual art in hospitals: case studies and review of the evidence” by L. Lankston (et. al), published in the December 2010 issue of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, the authors state: “There is moreover increasing evidence that the display of visual art, especially images of nature, can have positive effects on health outcomes, including shorter length of stay in hospital, increased pain tolerance, and decreased anxiety.”

Photo courtesy of Inpro

Use printed wall art to incorporate calming images of nature throughout a health-care interior, while ensuring it can withstand abuse from wheelchair traffic and equipment carts.

For quite some time, designers have supported this general idea and used color and art as instrumental components of a healing space. Advances in technology and printing capabilities are expanding the possibilities of the scope and quality of images that can be used for this purpose. Outfitting hospital walls with large-scale, high-resolution digital artwork can contribute much more to the overall aesthetic than paint or wallpaper. With these new visual art products, designers can use the hospital walls as a canvas to showcase serene and calming panoramic views of nature, share inspirational quotes or dramatic photography, offer directional cues for wayfinding, provide information, or tastefully incorporate facility logos and branding throughout a building.

An advantage of digital artwork is that it is entirely scalable and can be printed to fit the dimensional needs of any space, from hanging a singular art piece on a wall to creating an expansive photomural to run the length of a corridor.

Withstand Wear and Tear and Resist Dirt

Finishes and artwork used in hospital interiors must be capable of withstanding significant wear and tear. These busy interior spaces host patients, staff, and visitors 24/7, and the corridors are super highways for patient beds, wheelchairs, equipment carts, and food delivery and maintenance gear.

In the past, designers who have used the walls in a hospital to contribute toward the healing aesthetic have searched in vain for a solution that would safeguard the image, without covering it up and obscuring it in plastic protection. Now, the design is the protection. Scalable, digital artwork is printed onto a durable substrate, also referred to as a rigid sheet, that protects the image from receiving scratches, dents, and scrapes. The rigid sheet is then covered with an invisible barrier film, which assures that any imperfections that may exist on the wall will not be visible through the image. This new product combines the limitless aesthetic possibilities of digital art with high-impact wall protection.

In order to compare the relative strengths of different surface coatings, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) developed a test method to evaluate the abrasion resistance of a coating referred to as ASTM D4060-14: Standard Test Method for Abrasion Resistance of Organic Coatings by the Taber Abraser. When specifying a product that claims to resist damage from impact, request the results of the ASTM Abrasion Resistance test to verify product performance and compare solutions.

Not only do these new printed wall solutions withstand dents and scratches, but they are also designed to resist dirt and grime and be easily cleaned. The ASTM D6578: Standard Practice for Determination of Graffiti Resistance determines the ability of a coating to resist graffiti and evaluates how easily the surface can be cleaned. The test divides products into five levels of cleanability. Level 1 refers to coatings where the graffiti was completely removed with a dry cotton cloth. Level 2 coatings can be completely cleaned with a 1 percent aqueous detergent solution. A coating that earns a Level 3 rating indicates that graffiti can be completely removed with a citrus cleaner. On a Level 4 coating, graffiti can be removed with isopropanol. A Level 5 cleanability rating signifies that graffiti can be removed from the coating with methyl ethyl ketone (MEK). If a coating is deemed Not Cleanable by the ASTM test, graffiti remained after all of the cleaning solutions were used, or the gloss ratio was substantially reduced. There are printed wall solutions that have earned the highest rating of stain resistance and cleanability on the ASTM D6578 test.