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IMPROVING
THE
DESIGN
PROCESS OF PUBLIC HOSPITALS IN THE
KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA TO SUPPORT
PATIENT RECOVERY PROCESSES
ABSTRACT
Although they are part of the major public infrastructure, hospitals can be considered
unique. This uniqueness stems from the influence of their built environment toward
patients as the main users of the facilities. Events occurring in a patients environment
may have both physical and psychological impacts on their healing process.
Moreover, a lack of attention paid to the relationship between the built environment
design and patient health may lead to adverse incidents (AIs), such as the spread of
infectious disease, medication errors and physical impacts, as well as further suffering
caused by psychological factors such as stress, weariness, anger and isolation. While a
number of studies have found evidence that the design of a hospital building can
impact the patients recovery process in general, there is little understanding of the
hospital design process (concept design, improvement design and technical design),
and how the process can be managed to achieve the desired impact over its entire life
cycle. In light of the ongoing discussion, this candidacy paper aims to report on
ongoing doctoral research in the Construction Management Department, which
investigates the contemporary design process of existing public hospitals in the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and the events that are caused by environmental
design issues. These events may be considered either unsupportive or supportive
towards patients recovery process. Factors, requirements, needs and causes that
impact patient health are identified in order to improve the current design process.
Inductive and deductive approaches are proposed within the context of mixed
methods. Moreover, adopting a case study approach, the samples in the study will be
drawn from a patients treatment plan, where patients are treated for urgent injuries in
three distinct cities in the KSA. These patients were selected because of their resource
needs and their length of stay in the hospital environment. The data will be collected
through interviews and questionnaires with post-treatment patients, healthcare
professionals, architects and decision-makers in these hospitals. Overall, the outcome
of this investigation is expected to lead to improvements in design processes for future
public hospitals in the KSA.
Keywords: adverse incidents, hospital design process, environmental design issues,
patients recovery process, physical and psychological impacts.
1.
INTRODUCTION