Efficient Design of Nursing Unit Floors

Hospital designs aim to obtain the lowest possible construction,maintenance and operational costs together with patient satisfaction,comfort and privacy. To satisfy these needs, the efficientdesign of nursing unit areas becomes considerably important.This study was thus conducted to analyze planimetric designefficiency of nursing unit floors by defining certain floor areasand floor area ratios. To test existing nursing unit floors, quantitativeassessments were noted in regard to their planimetricefficiency: the utility value of the built floor area, both in termsof its allocation to patient space (served), support (serving) andcirculation space and the relative proportions of these. Resultswere presented in a comparative table. Of the 15 hospital floorplans analyzed, five satisfied minimum space requirements forpatient areas, while another five were in the optimum range forcirculation areas. Two were defined as the least efficient, havingthe lowest patient-to-circulation area ratio.