Herman Miller Shares Ways to Improve Clinician Teamwork by Design

Herman Miller and NIHD have a long standing Partnership. In 2015, Herman Miller Healthcare partnered with NIHD to produce a book focused on nurses and other clinicians roles in planning and design of healthcare environments to optimize patient, provider and organizational outcomes.

In addition, NIHD works with Herman Miller to share clinically focused content with our members through our blog, webinar series, and newsletter. Below you will find an article written by NIHD Member Michelle Ossmann, PhD, MSN.


Miscommunication among medical professionals contributes to 80% of “adverse events” (i.e. mistakes that happen on the job*). It doesn’t have to be that way. Healthcare settings designed to improve clinician teamwork can reduce errors and save lives.

We can start by setting nurses, doctors, and clinical teams up for success with workspaces that encourage communication and learning. When we design healthcare spaces to facilitate communication among care teams, we improve connectedness, continuous learning, and teamwork. This saves lives. Here's how to do it.


See how Herman Miller can help by visiting Five Ways to Improve Teamwork in Healthcare Environments, written by NIHD member Michelle Ossmann, PhD, MSN, Director of Healthcare Knowledge & Innovation at Herman Miller.

*Source: The Joint Commission, “Human Factors Analysis in Patient Safety Systems,” The Source, Volume 13, April, 2015.

Source: Becker, "Organizational Ecology and Knowledge Networks," University of California, Berkeley, Vol. 49, No 2, 2007.


NIHD Industry Partner Blogger:

Michelle Ossmann, PhD, MSN
Director, Healthcare Knowledge & Innovation at Herman Miller*

*Herman Miller is an Industry Partner of NIHD.


NIHD collaborates with clinicians, design professionals and industry partners in the healthcare design process to shape the future of healthcare design.