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A new approach for layout design of an emergency department in hospitals: a case from Jordan

Majd Khatib (Department of Architecture, School of Engineering, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan)
Abdulsalam Alshboul (Faculty of Architecture and Design, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Amman, Jordan and Department of Architecture, School of Engineering, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan)

Facilities

ISSN: 0263-2772

Article publication date: 1 August 2022

Issue publication date: 17 October 2022

239

Abstract

Purpose

The design of the emergency department (ED) requires high precision in the process of distributing spaces. An increase in population and continuous development during the past years caused the addition of new services, changes in patients’ numbers, movement flow and treatment procedures which makes the existing layout plan of the ED no longer appropriate for its current needs. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to generate a process of finding better alternatives for ED’s spatial planning.

Design/methodology/approach

The genetic algorithm method as a part of the systematic layout planning strategy was adopted for decision-making in redesigning the ED layout and finding the most appropriate alternative. This methodology was applied to a teaching hospital in Jordan to create layout alternatives with better functional dimensions.

Findings

The design that is based on the study of the movement of users and the relationship of spaces increases the layout performance.

Research limitations/implications

The structural method of this study can be adopted for different hospital designs, but the results are limited only to the study case itself because of the different factors and data for each building.

Originality/value

This study demonstrates the process of making the most appropriate decision to redesign the ED in the hospital; therefore, the method can be adopted in restructuring the scheme of different hospitals and evaluated, especially before implementation.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Jordan University Hospital for facilitating the work in the Emergency Department. Many thanks go to the Hospital Quality Assurance Department, and finally thanks to the Engineering Department at the University of Jordan.Funding: Work on this research did not receive any funding from any public or private authority.

Citation

Khatib, M. and Alshboul, A. (2022), "A new approach for layout design of an emergency department in hospitals: a case from Jordan", Facilities, Vol. 40 No. 13/14, pp. 809-827. https://doi.org/10.1108/F-03-2022-0037

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

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