Planning Temporary Medical Space During Hospital Renovations

Define the function before selecting the rooms

Identify the department or activity affected by construction. Describe the people, equipment, patient movements and support functions involved. An examination area, patient-care space and administrative office place different demands on a layout and its systems.

Bring the clinical, facilities, infection-prevention and construction teams into the same review. Agree which services are proposed for the temporary location and which will continue elsewhere. This creates a common basis for evaluating the facility and the transition plan.

Choose a layout that supports the workflow

FORTS medical facilities use configurable, rigid-walled shelters. Single-unit arrangements and connected facilities offer different ways to organize rooms and circulation. Layouts, furnishings and equipment are developed around the selected application.

Review how patients, staff, supplies and equipment will move through the proposed space. Consider entry and exit points, privacy, staff work areas and any separation the intended activities require. Use drawings and available tours to test the arrangement with the people who will work in it.

• List the equipment that must fit in each room.
• Identify the access and clearances that the proposed work requires.
• Show the connections between clinical rooms and supporting spaces.

Resolve site and utility requirements

Assess the temporary location with the project team before fixing the construction sequence. Delivery access, placement, site support, drainage and connections all affect the work required to bring a facility into use.

Specify electrical, data, water, wastewater and medical-gas needs where relevant. Have the responsible specialists establish the environmental requirements for each proposed room and confirm the selected HVAC and other systems. Review the structural and weather requirements for the delivered configuration and location.

Schedule the handover into clinical use

Map each construction phase to the services it affects. Show when the temporary space must be accepted, when equipment and staff will move, and when the original area can be released to the contractor. Assign an owner to each decision and record how a change in one phase affects the others.

The hospital and its project advisers should establish the applicable licensing, occupancy, life-safety and clinical requirements. Include the necessary inspections, checks and staff orientation in the schedule before the proposed services move into the facility.

Plan the return and the next use

Decide how the temporary arrangement will change if construction phases move or the assignment lasts longer than expected. For an owned facility, discuss later uses, storage, maintenance and transport. For rental or reserved capacity, confirm duration, extension and removal arrangements with the provider.

Share the affected clinical functions, site information, equipment requirements and project schedule with FORTS. The team can use that brief to develop a proposed configuration for review with your hospital and construction partners.