In a recent Q&A on the FacilityCare website, consultant Brad Keyes answered a question about emergency department classification.
Q: Should emergency departments be classified as healthcare, ambulatory healthcare or business occupancies?
A: A typical emergency department (ED) may be classified as healthcare or ambulatory care occupancies, but never business occupancy. The patients brought to a typical ED are not necessarily ambulatory or, put in the NFPA vernacular, “capable of self-preservation.” So that would eliminate the business occupancy as a choice. The typical ED does not provide sleeping rooms, so that allows the facility to classify it as ambulatory care occupancy. Even if an ED has 24-hour observation beds, those are not classified as sleeping accommodations, so the designation of healthcare occupancy is not mandatory.
Disinfectant Contact Time: The Case for Biofilm Disruption
Rethinking How Healthcare Facilities Fund Construction Projects
Putting Trauma-Informed Design into Practice
Harris Health to Build New Freestanding Cancer Center
Inland Empire Health Plan Opens Expanded San Bernardino Community Wellness Center