With healthcare facility design trending toward increasing patient space in new construction, there can be concomitant increases in healthcare staff workloads. This study used simple pedometry step counts to compare staff walking effort in double-loaded and racetrack corridor floor plan designs. It was demonstrated that the racetrack floor plan outperformed the double-loaded corridor in human energy efficiency regardless of staff position or work shift. The racetrack corridor floor plan proved to be the better of the two designs for increasing patient space while minimizing the increase in healthcare staff walking workload.
This article originally appeared in Vol 04.01 of the Perkins+Will Research Journal. CLICK HERE to see the whole article.
