February 11, 2025

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Nightingale Best Of Sustainability Winner Delivers Fresh Take On Privacy Curtains For Healthcare

Nightingale Best Of Sustainability Winner Delivers Fresh Take On Privacy Curtains For Healthcare

Nightingale Awards Best Of Sustainability Q+A

Privacy curtains in healthcare environments are not only time-consuming and difficult to change, but they can also be a source of waste when parts such as hooks or grommets break, resulting in the entire curtain needing to be thrown out.

Standard Textile’s AMY Privacy Curtain addresses these issues with a reusable, all-fabric design that simplifies curtain management by eliminating hooks and carriers, while providing a durable alternative to disposable curtains. Furthermore, the system is designed to integrate with facilities’ existing track systems to reduce the waste and the cost of replacement.

At the 2024 Healthcare Design Conference + Expo, the privacy curtain caught the attention of jurors in the Nightingale Awards, earning it the Best of Sustainability Award and a Gold Award in the Architectural Products: Non-Clinical category. “Brilliant concept! Absolutely a win-win for function and sustainability!” a juror commented.

Amy Luttrell, Standard Textile)

Amy Luttrell (Courtesy of Standard Textile)

Healthcare Design spoke with Amy Luttrell, supervisor, CORE Textile Innovation Labs at  Standard Textile, about the concept and how it provides an innovative and sustainable solution for healthcare settings. (She also contributed a key element of the curtain’s design, the “Y-Hook,” which is recognized with her name on the final product.)

Healthcare Design: What was the first step in designing a new curtain system for healthcare?

Amy Luttrell: Gathering feedback from focus groups and conversations with clinicians, EVS teams, and facilities staff on recurring pain points. It became obvious that the entire process—from installation to cleaning—needed to be simplified. Reducing the physical strain on staff and cutting down the time it took to change curtains were top priorities.

We also knew early on that we wanted the curtain to be fully launderable, so we focused on removing common failure points like grommets, hooks, snaps, and carriers. These components not only added complexity but often caused problems during laundering, such as tearing the mesh or requiring extra maintenance.

How did you approach the product design to meet facilities’ needs for both function and sustainability?
We developed a one-piece, all-fabric design that’s fully launderable. Features like the “Y-Hook,” which slides onto the track in one smooth motion, and the one-piece endcap for tool-free curtain changes make the system faster and easier to use, significantly reducing the physical strain and time required for changeouts.

The result is a system that not only performs well but also delivers meaningful sustainability benefits. By removing components like hooks, grommets, and carriers, it eliminates materials that frequently break or cause issues during laundering, extending the life of the product and reducing waste.

Facilities also have the option to choose eco-friendly fabrics, such as biodegradable materials or SEAQUAL® fabrics made from yarns created with marine litter and recovered ocean plastics.

As a reusable product, it cuts down on landfill waste by providing an alternative to disposable curtains. The design also features panels which can be replaced individually if stained, ripped, or torn, rather than throwing out a whole curtain. Plus, the system is designed to fit most track types without the need for retrofitting, so there’s no added waste or cost from replacing infrastructure.

Explain how the system is designed to seamlessly integrate with a facility’s existing privacy curtain system?

Replacing an entire track system wasn’t realistic for most places—it’s costly, disruptive, and not environmentally friendly. That’s why we designed the AMY Privacy Curtain System to work seamlessly with most existing traditional track systems.

AMY privacy curtain, Standard Textile

(Courtesy of Standard Textile)

Using the system is simple. Facilities replace the track’s existing end cap with AMY’s one-piece plastic easy-open endcap, which flips open for quick, tool-free curtain changes. The durable fabric “Y-Hooks” slide onto the track in one smooth motion, eliminating the tedious process of hooking each curtain grommet onto a carrier.

Unlike metallic hooks, the “Y-Hook” moves quietly and smoothly, making the experience better for both patients and staff. These features make the AMY system practical, easy to adopt, and a huge time-saver during changeouts.

How have clients’ desire for sustainable products for healthcare environments changed in the last decade and how does this product meet them?

Over the past decade, there’s been a noticeable shift toward sustainability in healthcare environments. Regulatory requirements and greater environmental awareness have played a role, but it’s also clear that designers and decision-makers are becoming more thoughtful about the materials they use.

They’re looking for transparency and products that balance functionality with eco-friendly practices.

For more on the 2024 Nightingale Awards, read here.

Robert McCune is senior editor of Healthcare Design and can be reached at [email protected].

 

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