Exploring the Impact of the Emergency Department Built Environment on Physician Workplace Stress: A Qualitative Study Utilizing High-Fidelity Virtual Reality.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Physician burnout in emergency medicine has serious consequences. An underrecognized stressor for physicians may be the emergency department (ED) environment itself. EDs can be noisy and chaotic, lack natural light, and have challenging layouts that create patient care and safety concerns. This study examines the relationship between the ED-built environment and physician workplace stress.

Methods

A qualitative study of ED-attending physicians from a level I trauma center ED in Philadelphia was conducted. Participants underwent a semistructured interview followed by a walkthrough of a high-fidelity virtual reality (VR) simulation of the participant's ED. In the VR simulation, they rated the overall comfort of 3 primary ED physician workspaces and provided commenta

SUBMITTER: Fields JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12273555 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature