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The Guidelines for Design and Construction of Health Care
Facilities is referenced by architects, engineers, and health
care professionals throughout the United States and in other
countries who are planning new or renovated health care facility
construction. Authorities in 42 states, the Joint Commission for
the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, and several federal
agencies use the Guidelines as a reference, code, or standard when
reviewing construction designs and plans and completed health care
facilities.
The Guidelines are updated on a four-year cycle by the
multidisciplinary Health Guidelines Revision Committee (HGRC).
Individuals knowledgeable about health care practices and health
care facility design (doctors, nurses, facility managers,
architects, and engineers) and those who apply the document in the
field (state and federal authorities having jurisdiction, or AHJs)
serve on the committee. (AHJs reviewing and approving plans and
construction for health facilities are often architects or
engineers.)
The Guidelines revision process involves two opportunities for
public comment. During a proposal period, anyone can submit a
proposal to change language in the Guidelines. The HGRC considers
these proposals and develops a draft manuscript. This draft is
then posted for public comment, and anyone can comment on the
proposed changes. From its review of these comments, the HGRC
develops the manuscript for the next edition of the
Guidelines.
The 2006 edition
The 2006 edition has been completely reorganized and renumbered to
make it easier to find material in the document. A relocation
matrix for users of earlier editions can be found in the back of
the book.
New content and major revisions that appear in the 2006 edition are
summarized below:
Part 1—General (applicable to
all health care facilities)
- Expansion of the environment of care chapter, including
detailed functional program requirements and an appendix on green
design
- New material on infection control risk assessments (ICRAs) and
infection control risk mitigation recommendations
- A chapter on common requirements for all health care facility
types
Part 2—Hospitals
- Single-bed rooms as the minimum standard for medical/surgical
and postpartum nursing units in general hospitals
- Revised bed clearances and new bedside documentation areas in
critical care units
- New sections on intermediate care units in general hospitals,
observation units in emergency departments, freestanding emergency
facilities, and in-hospital skilled nursing units
- Revised text for decontamination areas and appendix language on
surge capacity in emergency departments
- Revised section on in-hospital psychiatric nursing units
- New chapter on small inpatient primary care hospitals
Part 3—Ambulatory Care
Facilities
- A chapter of common elements for outpatient facilities
- Revised chapters on freestanding surgical facilities, birthing
centers, and primary care outpatient facilities
- New chapters on urgent care facilities, office surgical
facilities, gastrointestinal endoscopy facilities, renal dialysis
centers, and psychiatric outpatient centers
Part 4—Other Health Care
Facilities
- Revised chapter on nursing facilities
- Completely new chapters on assisted living, hospice, and adult
day health care facilities
Questions may be addressed to healthcareguidelines@aia.org. The Facility
Guidelines Institute has a Web page at www.fgi-guidelines.org.
How to
reference the 2006 edition
The reorganization of the Guidelines is
accompanied by a new numbering system, which places the chapter
number at the top of the page and paragraph numbers in the text.
Thus, each paragraph reference must include both the
chapter number (followed by a hyphen) and the paragraph
number. For instance, the reference to typical patient rooms in a
hospital medical/surgical unit in Chapter 2.1, General Hospitals,
is 2.1-3.1.1.
To make the document easy to read, it was decided not to include
full-length paragraph references in the text itself. Therefore,
full references appear only in cross-references and in the index.
The one exception is a matrix at the back of the book that was
developed for Guidelines users accustomed to the previous numbering
system. This matrix lists paragraph numbers in the 2001 edition and
their corresponding complete paragraph references in the 2006
edition.
Bottom line: The paragraph numbers in the text of the
2006 edition often appear in multiple chapters. Therefore, users
must provide complete paragraph references
(chapter number [hyphen] paragraph number, such as 2.1-3.1.1) to
adequately reference the new edition.
Errata sheet
for 2006 edition
Errors found in the 2006 edition are corrected in the next
printing. To determine which printing you have, please refer to the
copyright page in the 2006 edition (facing the dedication page).
The last line on the copyright page of the first printing begins
“Printed in the United States . . . .” After the
first printing, there are lines listing the different printings and
their dates.
Periodic updates are made to the errata sheet. Please refer to the
date on the sheet to determine if you have the most current copy
(June 5, 2007).
Errata sheet for the first printing (June 2006)
Errata sheet for the second printing
(November 2006)
SINGLE-BED
ROOM RESEARCH
To review research on "The Use of Single Patient Rooms versus
Multiple Occupancy Rooms in Acute Care Environments" carried out by
Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC, Canada, and sponsored by
the Facility Guidelines Institute, please use the PDFs posted
below.
INTERPRETATIONS
Users of the Guidelines occasionally have questions about
a portion of the document. The Facility Guidelines Institute, with
funding from the American Society for Healthcare Engineering
(ASHE), offers a formal interpretation process to address
substantive questions about the content of the Guidelines.
Nonetheless, it is important to remember that the ultimate
interpretation of information contained in the Guidelines is the
responsibility of the state or federal authority having
jurisdiction.
Click on the following links for more information.
WHERE TO FIND EARLIER EDITIONS OF THE
GUIDELINES
Since 1987, the Guidelines have been published by the American
Institute of Architects with assistance from the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services. Copies of the 1987, 1992–93, and
1996–97 editions are available in non-searchable PDF form.
Click the titles below to access these PDFs. PLEASE
NOTE: You cannot open these very large PDFs from the AIA
Web site; you must right-click the link and save the PDF to your
computer.
Guidelines for Construction and Equipment
of Hospital and Medical Facilities, 1987
edition
Guidelines for Construction and Equipment
of Hospital and Medical Facilities, 1992–93
edition
Guidelines for Design and Construction of
Hospital and Health Care Facilities, 1996–97
edition
The 2001 edition of the Guidelines for Design and Construction
of Hospital and Health Care Facilities is still available for
purchase from the AIA
bookstore.
Prior to 1987, the Guidelines were published by the Department of
Health and Human Services (formerly the Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare). An earlier title was Minimum
Requirements of Construction and Equipment for Medical
Facilities.
Government publications are available through your local Federal
Depository Library, usually located in a public or university
library. The document numbers for the last four federal versions of
the Guidelines/Minimum Requirements are:
Guidelines for Construction and Equipment of Hospital and
Medical Facilities, 1983/1984 Edition
DHHS Publication No. (HRS-M-HF) 84-1
Minimum Requirements of Construction and Equipment for Hospital
and Medical Facilities
DHEW Publication No. (HRA) 81-14500
Minimum Requirements of Construction and Equipment for Hospital
and Medical Facilities
DHEW Publication No. (HRA) 79-14500
Minimum Requirements of Construction and Equipment for Hospital
and Medical Facilities
DHEW Publication No. (HRA) 76-4000
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