THE INFLUENCE OF ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN OF THE SURGICAL SUITE ON THE TRANSMISSION OF INFECTION IN HOSPITALS ANALYTICAL STUDY OF SPACES AND TRAFFIC FLOW IN EGYPTIAN HEALTHCARE FACILITIES

Abstract

Healthcare associated infections constitute a serious health risk worldwide. This emerged the need to study the diverse aspects that could limit the spread of these infections especially in the surgical suite. The architectural design of the surgical suite plays an important role in the acquisition of these infections. This study focuses on the design of spaces, zoning, and traffic flow for the surgical suite of general hospitals. The aim of this study is to investigate to which limit can the architectural design of the surgical suite affect the transmission of healthcare associated infections. And in order to reach this target, the study analyzed the effect of the design of spaces, zoning, and traffic flow on the spread of infections. Infection control regulations related to the design of spaces, zoning, and traffic flow were gathered from the diverse resources. A design assessment checklist was created based on previous literature. This checklist is to be used by architects during the design process to measure the degree of the architectural design compliance with infection control regulations. It is an easy to use template that highlights areas of deficiencies need improvement. This checklist was tested through its implementation in an Egyptian case study in a way that promotes the design’s creativity and avoids directing architects to specific design alternative.