520
Detailed Needs and Requirements: Intensive Care Units
523.2.2
Space Requirements
1. General
The intensive care unit should provide optimum working conditions for
physicians and nurses and a reassuring atmosphere for the patient.
This implies a quiet area where conversations or other sounds will not
disturb patients or be overheard by them. Lighting levels should be
such that nurses can observe patient respiration rates and skin color
24 hours per day, while allowing patients to sleep when they desire.
Temperature levels should be controllable within a normal range.
Windows in the unit not only serve to orient patients but also provide
relief from the intensive environment for the staff.
2. Patient Room
Each patient bed area in intensive and cardiac care units should be
supplied with necessary services for emergency as well as routine
care. These may include multiple oxygen and vacuum outlets,
compressed air outlet, electrical power, and connection to central
monitoring terminals. The space around each patient bed should
accommodate necessary personnel and equipment for emergency
procedures. Each patient bed should be visible from the nurses'
station to allow for the requisite level of observation (see Figure 520-5).
Provision should be made at the patient's bedside for the storage of
some personal possessions and individually assigned utensils and
equipment for patient care.
As mentioned previously, some intensive care patients may require
physical isolation from other patients in the unit due to infectious
conditions. Isolation spaces should provide the requisite degree of
separation, but should also allow for necessary observation from
nursing areas. Facilities for gowning and handwashing should be
provided at the entry to these spaces. Services provided in isolation
areas should be the same as those in other bed areas of the unit.
Cardiac care patients should be protected as much as possible from
disturbing sights or sounds on the unit. For this reason, each patient
should be provided with some degree of visual and acoustical isolation
from other patients in the unit.
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