Patient Centered Architectural Design Approach for Infection Control in Trauma Centers: The Case of Aabet and Alert Hospitals, Addis Ababa
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2020-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This thesis is aimed to assess the infection risks in trauma hospitals through selecting case study samples and study a design approach and method of implementation to improve the existing infection risk. As there might be varieties of physical and clinical approaches to control infection in hospital settings, this thesis focused on the physicals aspect of a hospital and tried to identify parameters of patient centered architectural design approach to achieve infection safe hospital setting. Thesis data is collected through reviewing literature, interview with policy makers, NGOs and healthcare professionals and observation Aabet and Alert trauma hospitals while being located in the capital, the case study selection is intended to understand the situation with regard to hospital acquired infection (HAI) and design factors that are contributing to the problem. Following a thorough investigation of the case studies, the collected data was analyzed through the assessment of selected medical and design professionals. The analysis process showed the importance of managing the patient traffic and treatment process flow in and among emergency observation (24 hour observation), emergency procedure and surgical units during design stage. Finally, it is concluded that the level of HAI can be controlled through patient centered design approach. Strategies such as major patient path identification, giving priorities for the identified treatment flow, planning a layout according to the treatment path for easier triaging, timely transition from each unit to another, minimize crossings other traffic flows and placement of diagnostic facility on average location to the major patient paths are recommended to be considered in patient centered design approach.
Description
Keywords
Health care associated infection,, Infection control,, Patient centered design,, Trauma hospitals