Top Products and Lighting Design Considerations for Patient Rooms

TLA Spotlight Blog

Top Products and Lighting Design Considerations for Patient Rooms

May 3, 2023 | Products

As the most versatile room in the hospital, the patient room serves an array of needs. These rooms can be for long-term care one day, pediatric treatment the next, and a daily site for many vital procedures and diagnoses.

That’s no easy feat for a designer who needs to consider flexibility, visual acuity, and safety.

We’re proud to work with industry-leading, innovative, and thoughtful manufacturers who create products for healthcare spaces. Keep reading for some of our favorite luminaires for patient rooms from Kirlin, Focal Point, New Star, and Amico.

 

1. Kirlin Lighting

To improve specification, our friends at Kirlin Lighting have broken down the patient room into four different zones:

1. The Patient Zone: This includes the area closest to the patient bed, where exam lighting is used for visual assessments, paired with ambient lighting for the patient as they read, relax, and recuperate.

2. The Clinical Zone: Where doctors, nurses, and staff are most active—both when a patient is awake and asleep. An ideal spot for chart lights and task lights that provide targeted illumination.

3. The Family Zone: Often a comfortable space with couches and recliners, this zone is ideal for lighting similar to home, like ambient downlights.

4. The Hygiene Zone: AKA the patient’s restroom. This space requires a dead-front shower light and nightlights controlled via photocell.

Understanding the unique needs in each zone can help us choose the right products. Here are a few standouts from Kirlin that TLA recommends for healthcare applications.

 

Kirlin Hitsville Task Light in behavioral health patient room

Hitsville Nightlight + Task Light

Hitsville is a sleek and feature-packed luminaire ideal for healthcare & institutional settings. It is available as a Task Light (MTT-03TSK) and companion Nightlight (MTT-03NLT) with identical faceplates (pill-shaped or regular).

Ideal for the patient zone, the Task Light packs plenty of punch while offering a sleek, aesthetically pleasing design. And the patient has control over nighttime lighting with a touch-dimming switch. With these thoughtful features, Hitsville still meets the critical standards of being both ligature and vandal-resistant.

Likewise, the companion nightlight gives a diffused, wide illumination angle for those late-night wayfinding needs. And it works with amber LEDs! Check out our recent post about what sets Hitsville apart from other task lighting choices.

 

Kirlin LRC 04LDN downlight for patient rooms

4″ Lensed Downlight – LRC-04LDN

Great for the family zone, Kirlin’s regressed 4” Lensed Downlight from the aptly named “Choice Series” is one of our top choices for patient rooms.

Available in 4″, 6″, and, 7″ apertures, Kirlin’s vandal-resistant downlights are IK10 rated, ligature-resistant, and approved for use in high-risk behavioral health environments.

Check out the Spec Sheet for details.

 

Kirlin LRC 05DFS shower light for patient restroom

5″ Dead Front Shower Light – LRC-05DFS

You know where this goes. Kirlin’s 5″ Dead Front Shower Light is a solid choice, with 1000-2500L, non-conductive round trim, and MFL distribution.

The LRC downlight is a great choice for the shower, with lots of lumen options to accommodate any size space. Also, having a MFL distribution keeps the light high up on the walls. Most importantly, the dead front makes it a safe choice for the end user.

See the Spec Sheet for all the details.

2. Focal Point

We couldn’t agree more with Focal Point when they say, “We believe that lighting solutions that enhance patient rooms, clinical rooms, and common areas of healthcare facilities don’t need to look clinical or institutional.”

Focal Point provides a wide selection of luminaires for illuminating patient rooms while also supporting the maintenance and cleanability requirements of healthcare spaces. Several options and technologies support specific needs, such as NSF certifications, IP and Wet Location ratings, Indigo-Clean visible light disinfection technology, BIOS SkyBlue circadian technology, Warm Dim, and Tunable White technology.

 

Apollo 8 luminaire from Focal Point lighting in modern patient room

 

Apollo 8 LED

Focal Point’s Apollo 8 is a multi-functional LED carefully designed with patient comfort and physician needs in mind. Apollo offers below-ceiling access for maintenance, anti-microbial paint, and easy controllability.

Apollo 8 offers three modes of operation: ambient, ambient + exam, and ambient + exam + reading, and multiple dimming options.

Check out the video below to see how it provides flexibility for both patients and health professionals.

 

3. New Star Lighting

New Star’s line of luminaires meets the demands and specifications of healthcare spaces by providing proper illuminance levels while simultaneously performing a multitude of tasks—from containing and mitigating EMI interference to enduring various cleaning and sterilization processes.

We appreciate New Star’s commitment to researching and leading product development in this ever-evolving industry.

 

New Star Lighting healthcare lighting design

Lumanique Multi-Function

Recognized in the IES 2020 Progress Report!

New Star Lighting’s Lumanique (SPDH) Series was designed to support and create a welcoming atmosphere for the patient and provide proper lighting levels for caretaker tasks.

The Lumanique can be tailored for specific job requirements by mixing and matching different features, including function configurations, lumen packages, various correlated color temperatures and CRI options.

We asked Ryan Stewart, TLA Principal, about why the Lumanique is a great choice for healthcare projects:

“The Lumanique is one of the few patient room lights that has the same form factor for multiple sizes.  It can be used in standard 2×2 and 2×4 lay-in ceilings, but also offers a dual 6” wide luminaire option for a more modern ceiling type and look.”

The Lumanique Series is also available in a general ambient/high output one-function configuration (SPDA). Find more details in the Design Guide.

 

New Star Lighting illuminated by Bios

We’re bound to see more and more circadian solutions in the near future, and Bios is at the forefront.

Our circadian system has its peak sensitivity in the ‘sky blue’ region near 490nm. BIOS spectrum includes a distinct peak in the ‘sky blue’ region at 490nm, where traditional LEDs (used for color tuning) significantly drop their sky blue content, regardless of color temperature.

New Star is utilizing BIOS Dynamic SkyBlue™ circadian solutions for high daytime “blue sky” stimulus, communicating with key photoreceptors in the eye that regulate our circadian rhythms.

Contact New Star or speak to your sales rep at Lighting Agency for more info on Bios.

Chart of BIOS sky blue features utilized by New Star lighting

4. Acuity Brands

Acuity Brands is home to some of the most respected brands in lighting, including Healthcare Lighting. Their patient room lighting solutions let healthcare professionals provide the best care while creating a positive and comforting environment for patients.

 

HPL recessed lighting for patient rooms from acuity brands healthcare lighting

HPL Multi-Function

We’re very excited about the possibilities of Acuity’s new HPL Linear lighting solution. With asymmetric and symmetric distribution, HPL combines architectural form with multi-function.

Stepping away from traditional bulky troffers, HPL is as visually clean as it gets. This exciting new recessed linear light delivers single and multi-modal functionality for patient rooms, healthcare hallways, common areas, and exam or procedure rooms.

Available in 2 ft., 3 ft., 4 ft., 6 ft., and 8 ft. lengths and up to 115 lumens per watt. It has an IP64 rating, boasts nLight® wired and wireless controls, and offers grid, mud-in flangeless, and drywall flange mounting options.

Choose from HPL Multi-Function, HPL Single Function in Static White, HPL Single Function in Tunable White, or HPL Single Function in Warm Dimming.

 

Amico lightmaster series multi-functional switch

5. Amico

Amico is highly regarded for manufacturing state-of-the-art healthcare products that facilitate the caregiver’s role in providing the best outcomes for patients.

LightMaster Series Multifunctional Switch

In particular, Amico’s LightMaster switch series is a unique controls solution that you won’t find elsewhere.

Amico’s LightMaster Multifunction switch is a compact, low-voltage device that can control up to five lighting functions in a patient room on one easy-to-use, single-gang keypad. The LightMaster keypad is low voltage and uses a mylar overlay for durability, patient safety, and infection control.

Check out the Specifications for more.

Let’s talk about your next healthcare project

With over 40 years in the business, our team is proud of the expertise we can bring to your next healthcare or commercial lighting project.

Talk to your TLA Sales Rep today, or send us an email to start the conversation.

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