Finishing Materials as Health Promoters in Healing Spaces

According to the World Health Organization, every year in the European Union, four million patients acquire a healthcare associated infection (HAI). The risk mainly affects the patients, being more vulnerable due to their precarious health conditions. Implementing control and prevention measures is essential to mitigate an increasingly growing phenomenon. In addition to the contact between people, transmission can take place through surfaces, which play an important role in the propagation of microorganisms, but they are very often neglected with few guidelines on microbiological evaluations. In general, the analysis of the regulatory framework shows a great lack of strategies in the selection of finishes. Therefore, it is clear that designers have a great responsibility in creating healthy spaces, and that finishing materials play a particularly strategic role within healthcare settings, although they are often considered to be the final layer of a confined space. However, they are in need of greater attention, especially with respect to the activities carried out within healing environments. In fact, they can influence the transmission of hospital infections and have a strategic role to play in spaces becoming more hospitable for their users’ wellbeing. Finishing materials can also affect indoor air quality. This chapter investigates several finishing materials and several studies taken from the scientific literature, to look at how they can be health promoters.