"One of the challenges," says T°nnes, "was that, being south facing, the x-ray and MRI rooms were flooded with bright daylight. Clinicians had to pull the blinds down in order to work, but were then left with poor artificial lighting. I spoke to the operators about their needs and examined the machinery, to see how I can make their jobs easier."
In the control rooms, a certain level and temperature of lighting was necessary to ensure the monitors could be seen easily while also providing a comfortable working environment for the department, which is in use 24 hours a day, seven days a week. T°nnes specified a mixture of primary red and blue for viewing the greyscale monitors used with the scanners and cool blues for the rooms' ambient lighting, together with a bright spotlight pointed directly at the desk for reading paperwork.
In the x-ray rooms, staff were often frustrated by their inability to see the machine's aiming light on the photographic plate. So, continues T°nnes, "when the x-ray aiming light is activated, the room lighting changes automatically to primary blue, enabling easy viewing of the machine's warm white lamp. Turning the lamp off again restores the room to normal lighting.
"Over in the CT rooms, the lighting serves a dual purpose: to assist staff, but also to help relax patients. If someone's heart were being scanned, they would understandably be anxious. So rather than have clinically white walls, the lighting provides warm, comforting, soft colours for the patient."
Lighting control is provided by an ETC Unison Paradigm system, which, he says, "is the only system capable of doing exactly what I wanted. The clinicians are all trained in how to use the lighting, and because each has their individual preference, they can select the colours which suit them best.
All lighting is still T5 fluorescent tubes, but T°nnes specified a mixture of warm and cool blue tubes, which can then be set as required for the specific task and is also programmed in a 24 hour sequence. The wall uplighters, meanwhile, are modified industrial RGBW fixtures.
Later this autumn, a Paradigm system with lighting designed by Rune Lighting will be installed in the hospital's new A&E department. The 1,000sq.m area has five emergency rooms, a blood laboratory and patient waiting areas, with colour temperature control for 24-hour use.
"This is the first of what we hope will be a number of regional hospitals in Denmark and across Scandinavia to be fitted with modern, contemporary lighting powered by ETC Paradigm," says S°ren J°rgensen, project manager for Bico, the dealer which supplied the equipment. "Hospital users traditionally have had cold, unpleasant lighting, in addition to the stress of whatever procedure they are undergoing. Now, at least we can make the whole experience a little more pleasing to the eye."
(Jim Evans)
