Case Study for Evaluating a Healthcare Facility Layout Design with Continuing Project Lifecycle Applications

摘要

In its current state of change, the U.S. healthcare industry is placing a focus on medical process efficiency, which contributes to architects' motivation toward evidence-based design. Noting that computer simulation is gaining acceptance as a source of evidence, the authors have set out to develop a layout evaluation by simulation protocol to evaluate the process efficiency of a healthcare facility as influenced by that facility's layout. The authors have chosen a system-of-systems analysis for developing a 'healthcare delivery' model and computer simulation of an existing medical facility. The situation of an acute care unit that has operated in two different layouts in an existing hospital has created the opportunity to evaluate outcomes for both an "existing" and a "proposed" facility. A matrix of simulations will be evaluated considering simulation technique versus level of detail. The case study can provide a strong validation not only of fidelity to the existing state but also of the simulation's power for predicting the influence of a future design layout.