Hospital design planning: unscheduled trauma ER visits impacting inpatient space allocation

Medical healthcare planners need to align outpatient and inpatient design factors that affect hospital space allocation. The Emergency Departments (ED) design must be congruent with the inpatient platform design to limit bottlenecking of patient admissions. However, limited research deciphers the impact of unscheduled ED admissions and the effects on inpatient bed capacity to ensure facility capability. The current study utilizes a case study by comparing the use of space planning criteria of the Department of Defense (DoD) with similar Private healthcare organization departmental metrics to inform space allocation. This study established the significance of unscheduled ED visits metric on inpatient space allocation. Bed capacity was calculated by outlining specific metrics; namely: population at risk, Average Daily Patient Load (ADPL), Average Length of Stay (ALOS), Average Annual Workload, Annual Admissions, and Occupancy Rate that are necessary for the right-sized inpatient hospital designs with a trauma mission. By analyzing existing research, identifying key metrics, highlighting capacity gaps, and showcasing real-world impacts via a case study pilot model. Valuable insights and benefits allow medical planners and administrators to assess and incorporate unscheduled visits as a key factor that influences appropriate hospital facility sizing and resource allocation.