LESA and the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) sponsored a workshop in 2016 to explore pathways to define and promote the adoption of lighting systems specifically for healthcare environments. The aim was to initiate an important dialog among stakeholders on the changes in modern healthcare interior lighting applications, and subsequent white paper detailing the outcomes and contributions of the workshop participants.
The workshop brought together lighting and human health researchers, healthy-lighting design experts, senior representatives from healthcare standards organizations, and healthcare providers.
Research on Solid-State Lighting (SSL) applications in healthcare is evolving rapidly. LED technology strives to bring healthy-lighting products to market. However, commercialization often occurs before any clinical studies have been completed that would demonstrate benefits for patients, healthcare providers, or include a value proposition for healthcare system administrators. Research continues to address and refine the precise role of light spectrum, intensity and timing on patient outcomes but it is increasingly clear that more evidence-based studies are required to fully understand the benefits of healthy lighting and market viability. Without this research, development and adoption of new standards for advanced lighting systems for healthcare and eldercare will be very slow, if not impossible.
The LESA Center is primarily concerned with how to properly engineer lighting design and control solutions that optimize human health and wellbeing. LESA will also continue to collaborate with light and healthcare experts to develop solid engineering solutions for sensory lighting systems that will meet the needs of both patients and healthcare providers.
The workshop white paper jointly released by LESA and the IES on February 12, 2018 is intended to be a detailed introduction to factors shaping the rapidly developing field of lighting for human health and wellbeing. It is not intended to be a comprehensive summary of the field but rather to serve as a platform to bridge the understanding of participants attending the upcoming IES “Light + Human Health Symposium” in Atlanta (April 8-10, 2018).