Department Of Veterans Affairs
VA Space Planning Criteria (Chapter 261)
Washington, DC 20420
December 2006
B. Space planning criteria have been developed on the basis of an understanding of the
activities involved in the functional areas of a Day Treatment Center and their
relationship with other services of a medical facility. These criteria are predicated on
established and/or anticipated best practice standards, as adapted to provide
environments supporting the highest quality heath care for Veterans.
C. These criteria are subject to modification relative to development in medical practice and
subsequent planning and design.
D. Room capacity calculation per year should be based on:
Operating days per year x Hours of operation per day
= Number of
Minutes per clinic stop / 60 minutes
annual clinic stops
1. The general planning model for VA facilities assumes 250 Operating Days per Year
and 8 Hours of Operation per Day. Room capacity will fluctuate as hours of
operation are modified, i.e., additional capacity may be generated by extending the
daily hours of operation within the same physical setting.
2. Basic Room Efficiency Factor selected for Day Treatment Center is 85%.
Example: For a Day Treatment Center clinic stop that averages 40 minutes:
250 operating days per year x 8 hours of operation per day
= 3,030 annual
40 minutes per clinic stop / 60 minutes
clinic stops
A maximum capacity of 3,030 clinic stops per year, assuming 100% utilization.
However, 100% utilization is not realistic. We will apply an 85% Efficiency Factor
as a design standard for Day Treatment Center.
3,030 x 85% = 2,575 annual clinic stops.
TABLE 1: WORKLOAD PARAMETER CALCULATION
AVERAGE
ANNUAL
MINIMUM
LENGTH OF
CLINIC STOPS
WORKLOAD TO
CLINIC
CLINIC STOP
UTILIZATION
PER ROOM
GENERATE ONE
STOP
RATE
(minutes)
(rounded)
ROOM
Exam
40
85%
2,575
770
Room
The number of annual clinic stops per room will be used as a criteria parameter
to calculate the number of exam rooms in the Space Criteria section of this
document. The minimum workload to generate one room is 30% of the calculated
annual clinic stops per room.
Day Treatment Center (Chapter 261): Page 300-4 of 10
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