Identifying Health Care Environment Contradictions in Terms of Infection Control during a Pandemic with a Focus on Health Workers’ Experience

Maryam Lesan, Fatemeh Khozaei, Mi Jeong Kim and Marziyeh Shahidi Nejad
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Maryam Lesan: Department of Architecture, School of Civil Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol 4714871167, Iran
Fatemeh Khozaei: Department of Architecture, Islamic Azad University, Kerman Branch, Kerman 7635131167, Iran
Mi Jeong Kim: School of Architecture, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Korea
Marziyeh Shahidi Nejad: Department of Architecture, Islamic Azad University, Kerman Branch, Kerman 7635131167, Iran

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 17, 1-17

Abstract: During the past year, health care environments have struggled to cope with the various impacts of COVID-19 around the world. Health care facilities need to help strengthen resistance to pathogen threats and provide care for patients and health workers in the safest possible way. Architectural design strategies can play a significant role in infection prevention and control. The current study aims to examine the experiences of health workers with hospital spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic. Identifying the difficulties they face, the present study attempts to shed light on the role of the health care layout configuration in combating pandemics. The authors conducted observations at four hospitals and a series of online semi-structured interviews with 162 health care staff from March to May 2020. The study indicated that space configuration and the hospitalization of patients, layout and circulation of the environment, operation services such as indoor environment conditions, maintenance of health care system, and organizational support for health care staff were the most critical factors affecting infection control in health care environments. The initial zoning and separation of patients were the most effective methods of controlling infection. Hospitals with clustered plan layouts were found to be the most effective buildings for the zoning of COVID-19 patients during the pandemic and for infection control.

Keywords: COVID-19; hospital; health care facilities; built environment; infection control (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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