Philips Luminous Ceiling creates a calming environment for critically ill ICU patients

The luminous ceiling, based on LED technology, developed by Philips is intended for application in intensive care areas in order to create an environment that reduces the stress of critically ill patients.

Philips has developed a luminous ceiling (Luminous Ceiling) with LED technology that simulates daylight and offers a calming environment to patients in critical condition in the hospital.

El techo basado en luminarias LED se ha introducido en el uso clínico de la Charité Campus Virchow Clinic en Berlín como parte de un concepto de reducción de estrés único denominado ‘Diseño Paramétrico Espacial'(Parametric Spatial Design). Hospital staff can enter the desired parameters and the luminous area creates light images and moods tailored to each patient's situation., thanks to Art+Com software. The Clinic has implemented the concept in two of the intensive care rooms in order to improve the healing environment for patients who are seriously ill.

According to research carried out, most people pass, at least once in your life, by the intensive care unit and, in many cases, patients' lives are at risk, as they wait for an operation or begin to recover after surgery. In this critical phase that, They often find their environment irritating and hostile, It has been shown that factors such as noise, Inadequate lighting conditions or social isolation may increase critically ill patients' risk of going into shock..

Until now there has been very little information on the health-related effects of hospital wards with a controllable environment. For this reason, intensive care doctors, Psychologists and sleep researchers from the Charité Clinic in Berlin investigate, together with their partners at Graft and the design agency Art+Com on how they use the integrated spatial concept in the research that will be developed in the next twelve months.

Philips has played an important role in creating this innovative concept, thanks to its experience in lighting design and technology.

The concept of Spatial Parametric Design was developed by Graft architects, the design agency Art+Com and the Charité Clinic in Berlin, within the framework of a joint venture financed by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (AIF).

“We find that, especially in critical areas such as the intensive care unit, lighting design is increasingly important in the patient environment”, explains Roger Karner, CEO of Philips Lighting in Germany.

First prototype

The Luminous Ceiling concept (luminous ceiling) by Philips combines the natural dynamic rhythm of daylight with soft colored light effects and visual content. This roof incorporates 15.400 LED and extends from the ceiling to the wall in front of the patient's bed, filling your entire field of vision.

In addition to RGB LEDs (color), High-performance LEDs with a warm white and cool white color temperature have also been integrated. They are capable of producing light output that is comparable to the light of a clear sky in summer.. This is the high level of light output that offers the biological effect of light in the intensive care room. Accompanies the patient's natural day/night rhythms and helps promote healthy sleep patterns.

The first prototype of the Luminous Ceiling system is in clinical use, in the intensive care rooms of the Charité Clinic. This Philips luminous ceiling adapts to the patient's needs, configuration that is entered by the doctor through a tablet and that can be personalized according to the characteristics of the patient thanks to a program that has been designed by Art+Com. In this way, it is possible to create the most appropriate environment for each situation.

Background

For many years, Philips has been researching and developing lighting systems whose application was especially designed for the hospital environment.. LED lighting technology allows a high level of control of color temperature and light intensity.

Philips has recently installed its HealWell lighting system, that simulates the dynamic and natural rhythm of daylight, at the German Heart Center in Berlin and other hospitals in Germany, the united kingdom, the netherlands, Europa Central, Middle East and Southeast Asia.

A pilot study carried out in conjunction with the University Clinic of Maastricht has investigated the effects of this system and has revealed that the c system improved the quality of the patients' sleep and their mood., in addition to increasing satisfaction among patients and healthcare workers.