Lighting the Path to Recovery: Addressing Delirium Risks in ICU Design

CCRG collaborators, A/Professor Veronica Garcia Hansen and Dr Francisca Rodriguez Leonard from the QUT School of Architecture and Built Environment have been awarded a new grant from the Australian Research Council for their project Lighting the Path to Recovery: Addressing Delirium Risks in ICU Design.

As part of CCRG’s broader ICU of the Future, the new project will develop dynamic, evidence-based circadian lighting solutions to support sleep, recovery and wellbeing for critically ill patients in intensive care units (ICUs).

Professor Garcia Hansen said current ICU lighting often fails to meet the melanopic equivalent daylight illumination thresholds needed to promote healthy circadian rhythms. 

"This research will, for the first time, assess lighting and sleep in a real ICU setting to establish patient-centred lighting recommendations that reduce delirium risks and foster recovery," she said. 

"The outcomes will benefit not only patients and clinicians but also inform hospital design, lighting industry innovation, and government health policy ensuring safer, more restorative environments for critically ill Australians." 

Together with A/Professor Garcia Hansen, the project brings together an impressive multidisciplinary team including CCRG’s Professor John Fraser AO and Oystein Tronstad, QUT’s Dr Francisca Rodriguez Leonard, Professor Mehlika Inanici from the University of Washington, A/Professor Vineetha Kalavally from Monash University, and Dr Irene Szollosi from The Prince Charles Hospital. 

Oystein Tronstad, CCRG’s Lead of Clinical Research, said “The ICU of the Future is leading the way globally with projects that are transforming how intensive care environments are designed, making them more patient-focused, calming and recovery-focused, while also supporting how clinicians deliver care. We’re thrilled to be working with A/Professor Garcia Hansen and the team to explore how something as fundamental as light can play a powerful role in patient recovery and wellbeing.”

Associate Professor Veronica Garcia Hansen and Dr Francisca Rodriguez Leonard. Image: Supplied.