Universal design concepts in the emergency department.

Universal patient bedrooms have been a design focus in healthcare settings for over a decade. The challenges among designers and healthcare organizations include the definition of universal, the application of the concept to more than simply patient bedrooms, and importantly, the long-term efficacy of the concept. This article addresses each of those challenges, first, by offering a range of definitions and then by testing the application of those definitions within an emergency department and offering case studies indicating initial successes.