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.
Designing for Caregiver-Centered Support Spaces
Novant Health Gets Approval for Wesley Chapel Medical Center
Rocky Mountain Associated Physicians Falls Victim to Data Breach
The Disconnect Between EVS and Clinical Teams
Nemours Children's Hospital Opens Institute for Maternal Fetal Health in Delaware