There are some general areas in all buildings. I call one area the site. This is everything on the outside of the building, such as: sidewalks, curb ramps, benches, signage, parking, loading zones, stairs, railings and any recreational facilities. Then the inside of the building we have the medical equipment, such as: surgery, radiology, treatment areas, exam rooms, exam tables, beds and any, and all, other medical equipment that is found in a hospital.
Lastly, we have the building itself, and here I really do not see anything different from any other building. Every hospital has areas of specialization, of which there may be 6 or more.
The ADA talks about dispersions and that means the disabled has to have the same choice. So, there has to be a handicapped room or space in each area of specialization. A good rule of thumb is 5% of the spaces needs to be wheelchair user accessible. This means there has to be at least one, and add a second based on the 5% rule.
Let me give you an example by taking a hospital bed.
We need an accessible bed in each area of specialization. So using the 5% rule, once our bed count in an area of specialization goes over 20 bed, there is an ADA requirement to have another accessible bed. So, what is an accessible bed? There is an ADA transfer requirement height and that is 17"-19". The hospital bed is also used for examining of the patient and treatment. The accessible bed now is going to have an adjustable height from 17" on the low end to whatever the standard height of the bed is. The height needs to be controlled by the patient, so the push button needs to not only control the head, the foot, but the overall height.
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Hank
The above are opinions of
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