Ergonomic Intervention in Hospital Architecture

The reorganization of healthcare services in western countries has produced a considerable number of hospital renovation and construction projects. Ergonomic intervention in architectural projects is a relatively recent phenomenon, and the Triennial IEA Congress 2006 was an exceptional opportunity to observe the progress being made in ergonomic practice in various countries. This chapter presents a summary of the Symposium: Healthcare Ergonomics – Architecture. A surprising kinship of approaches and methods has emerged from these papers. Participatory ergonomics is a particularly effective approach to the design phase of architectural plans. Several methods involving direct users of the future installations are presented: dynamic simulation, site visits, process and flow analysis, field observation, etc. Case studies illustrate the applications and the results achieved. Due to the scope and complexity of architectural projects, workstation ergonomics (microergonomics) has given way to the analysis of much larger production systems and services (macroergonomics). Despite definite progress, the potential of the discipline is still undervalued in this field. Building professionals (architects, engineers, etc.) and government agencies should be made aware of the added value that ergonomics can provide.