BATHROOM FITTINGS, MEDICAL SANITARYWARE & DRAINAGE
FOUR USEFUL SPECIFICATION TIPS FOR IMPROVED HOSPITALS Peta de Jager, Gingi Khoza, Toby van Reenen and Jako Nice Hospitals are widely regarded
patients, staff or visitors being injured
consequently hospital design
not have before entering the facility.
as a complex building type, and, and engineering is a specialised endeavour. This is important to be aware of, because, provision of good infrastructure in the context of healthcare service delivery can literally be a matter of life and death. For example, if the hospital power supply is interrupted – even for a short period of time – and there is not a well-conceived redundancy plan, failure of mechanically ventilated breathing apparatus could result in asphyxiation, patients
or contracting an illness they did Hospital design, engineering and specification is not the only factor, but research has produced an evidence base to show how these can contribute positively to safety, health and healing. Here are just four of the many ways informed specification can reduce risk and result in better healthcare built environments.
TIP 1:
Understand the clinical procedures
on the operating table could be left vulnerable and lifts could stop, delaying patients on their way to receive critical care. This seems fairly obvious. Yet, observations in the field show that, all too often, insufficient care is taken in the planning, design, engineering, operation and maintenance of hospital infrastructure. The World Health Organization notes that, globally, at least 10% of hospital admissions result in adverse events which see
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Healthcare Design 2020
Good hospital design should balance the need for the building fabric to be loose-fit and adaptable with a need to support highly specific and specialised procedures. Did you know that, internationally, clinicians are always taught to approach from the patient’s right-hand side when doing general clinical procedures, such as taking vital statistics? The set-up of examination beds and all the medical paraphernalia in consulting rooms
