What does Iron man and Emergency entrance bays in hospitals have in common? We see Tony stark trying really hard to somehow reveal the fact that he is the superhero who saved the day and finally he feels accomplished when he finally gets to say 'I am Iron man' and the crowd just goes crazy. Some agree he is a show off and likes to take credit which is in every human nature. What does this have to do with Emergency entrances?
How much of a show off should emergency entrance in hospitals exhibit? While in nature, design and their function they are spaces that any human has to acknowledge while passing by it.
Emergency Entrances are a crucial Zone in functioning health centers. Usually they are not hard to spot in a hospital and are made sure they are located in less pedestrian traffic area among the hospital circulation, better road access and so on...which also pertains to the Emergency department location. There are several codes on how they should be designed, how well they need to be sanitized, how many ambulance bays needs to have and other concerned attributes.
Most of the emergency entrances we have encountered in all our visits so far has their own good side and their bad side. For instance, The ambulance bay at Stroger Hospital had great access to the road side, but the ambulance circulation space and access point were inefficient, or so were the thoughts we had looking at the ambulance bay during our tour.
Also as much as the emergency entrance must be announcing itself for acknowledgement of its presence, it appeared like it was exhibiting too much of itself especially at the Stroger Hospital. Its proximity parallel to the main entrance was one of the reasons for that. I cannot really think of anyone entering the hospital for a flu shot encountering an event of ambulance pulling in with a patient for traumatic care and be completely comfortable with the sight of it. The most crucial one here the patient's privacy and concerns who is being taken into the ED.
For instance, I have a cousin who faints at the sight of the blood. Every human being has different levels of acceptability when they encounter such scenes. These kind of problems could be addressed by enclosed ambulance bays. Some hospital bays have enclosed like Rush University medical center has enclosed ambulance bay for 'potentially contaminated patients'.
Health care Designers need to start looking at the advantages and disadvantages of enclosed ambulance bays based on the existing evidences and look for options of designing better ambulance bays and emergency entrances.
References:
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/12/08/ribbon-cut-at-new-hospital-for-rush-university-medical-center/
Comments