Now Available: Degree in Designing Living Spaces for the Neurologically Impaired

Patients with neurodegenerative diseases spend most of their days not in a healthcare facility. That means their bouts of confusion or discomfort occur more regularly at home, at the grocery store or in other public places than they do in clinical settings.

While healthcare interior designers have done much to improve clinical environments for these patients, Cleveland Clinic experts believe more can — and must — be done outside the clinic.

“By the time an individual reaches age 80, he or she has a 35 to 45 percent chance of developing some kind of neurodegenerative disease,” says Dylan Wint, MD, a neurologist at Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Las Vegas. “As our U.S. population ages, we need to start bringing healthcare design insights into everyday environments.”

An innovative new master’s degree program is now preparing more interior designers to do just that. The Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health has teamed up with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), to offer the first Master of Healthcare Interior Design Program in North America — and possibly the world. The program’s first students began classes in August 2016.

Melding brain disease and design

Part of UNLV’s School of Architecture, the new cross-disciplinary, research-driven master’s program will train design professionals to plan living and working environments specifically for the neurologically impaired.

Cleveland Clinic specialists in neurology, psychiatry and neuropsychology educate architecture students on brain diseases and the day-to-day challenges they can give rise to. Students meld medical knowledge with design acumen to create spaces where people with brain diseases can feel more at ease and perform better in daily activities.

A student in the UNLV Master of Healthcare Interior Design Program presents a project to fellow students and Cleveland Clinic staff. Photo credit: Jody Rael Photography.

“We provide the clinical insights, based on our specialty training and practical experience,” says Dr. Wint, who is also Cleveland Clinic’s NV Energy Chair for Brain Health Education. “Then the students, with guidance from their architecture and design professors, select lighting, colors, textures and other environmental elements to impact comfort, mood and behavior. They identify research studies to support their choices.”

Since 2012, Cleveland Clinic physicians have helped train students taking healthcare design courses as part of a UNLV undergrad program. The new graduate program builds on that partnership.

How lighting, color and texture can be therapeutic

Not everyone with neurodegenerative disease faces the same challenges, notes Dr. Wint. That’s why one tenet of the program is individualization of design solutions. For example:

• A man with Alzheimer’s disease struggles with disorientation. He sometimes arises in the middle of the night and attempts to leave his home. Controlled lighting may help cue appropriate activities for daytime and nighttime.
• A woman with dementia has stopped using the toilet. She can no longer “find” it because its color blends in with the bathroom wall. Installing a toilet seat in a contrasting color may help.
• A man with Parkinson’s disease is at risk of falling. Smooth flooring without a visual pattern may enhance his balance. Softer materials may help limit injury in case he does fall.

“Everyone takes cues from their environment,” explains Dr. Wint. “The more helpful the cues, the more comfortable people will be as they live with neurodegenerative disease.”

Dr. Wint chats with students in the UNLV Master of Healthcare Interior Design Program. Photo credit: Jody Rael Photography.

Why Las Vegas?

Las Vegas is well suited to offer this unique master’s program, notes Dr. Wint. He credits the intersection of UNLV’s architecture and design ingenuity, the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health’s neurology expertise and Las Vegas’s large population of retired, older adults.

“Cleveland Clinic and the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health strive to educate people about neurodegenerative diseases,” he says. “We want more people to learn about them and join efforts to address them.”

Dr. Wint acknowledges that effective solutions for his patients could very well come from outside the biomedical industry.

“Our center exists to care for those affected by brain diseases,” he says. “Any efforts that improve the lives of those patients and families support our mission.”