Since 2006, HEALTHCARE DESIGN magazine has presented an annual International Edition, focused on the best and most innovative stories of healthcare design from around the globe, helping to compare, contrast, and provide perspective for U.S. designers in the process — our own small effort to shrink the world of healthcare design a bit and show innovative solutions for sometimes very different situations.

This year, however, we have changed some things. First of all, we have moved our International print edition from October publication to June. Second, and most relevant to you, the Web reader, we are launching our first annual International Week here on the HEALTHCARE DESIGN website. All week long, we will be publishing articles and blogs focused exclusively on the International market.

From the design of the new 1.5 million square feet, 900 patient-bed, Jurong General Hospital in the Republic of Singapore, to a look at Turkey's medical tourism trends, to the master planning effort behind the stunning new American Hospital Dubai, and more, we invite you all to join HEALTHCARE DESIGN this week on a whirlwind tour around the world.

And of course, we welcome your feedback: what do you take from reviewing International projects that you might apply to your domestic work? Are there solutions being used overseas that we should be incorporating here in the United States? Let us know via the comments box below, email, or on our LinkedIn Network The HEALTHCARE DESIGN Connection, where there has been some great discussion on the International design scene over the last couple of weeks.