Space Range per Bed for Medical/Surgical

Nursing Units
Originally printed in the
SpaceMed Newsletter
Spring-Summer 2012
www.spacemed.com

The overall space required to support a specific number of inpatient beds varies
widely even though most hospital building projects in the U.S. today include all
private patient rooms. The space allocation for a patient care floor to accommodate
48 acute medical/surgical patients in private rooms typically ranges from a low
space allocation of 500 department gross square feet (DGSF) per bed to a high
space allocation of 800 DGSF per bed. Contributing factors include: the size and
layout of the patient module (private patient room and adjoining toilet/shower
room); the amount of family, visitor, and staff amenities provided on the floor; and
the extent of point-of-care clinical and support services. Furthermore, the overall
design and layout of the floor itself impacts the net to gross space conversion factor
which accounts for the amount of space required for circulation corridors.
It should be noted that less space per bed on a patient care floor is not necessarily
more efficient or the goal for all organizations. Many factors influence decisions on
the size of the patient room, nursing unit support space, and family and staff
support space to be provided on a particular nursing unit including the types and
acuity of the patients to be accommodated, required staffing ratios, operational
processes and procedures, site constraints, and market dynamics. However, when
making preliminary estimates of the space per bed during facility master planning
or as part of a feasibility study, it is important to understand that these ranges can
vary significantly.
LOW

HIGH

Space Range
Per Bed

Space Range
Per Bed

Patient Room
Module
All Private Rooms

280 NSF

340 NSF

Nursing Unit
Support Space

50 NSF

100 NSF

Common Staff
Support Space

9 NSF

54 NSF

Common Family/
Visitor Amenities

7 NSF

23 NSF

346 NSF
1.45
500 NSF

517 NSF
1.55
800 NSF

Type of
Space

Total NSF per Bed

Conversion Factor
Total DGSF per Bed

Comments
Includes the patient bedroom and contiguous toilet/shower
room. The higher range includes an expanded family/visitor
area and slightly more space around the patient bed. A
separate shower stall is provided as part of the toilet room and
the entrance vestibule provides a provider charting area.
In the higher range, patient rooms may be organized into
smaller groupings or "pods" of beds each with a decentralized
nurse sub-station and alcoves for linen, medication, and
emergency response carts. Point-of-care laboratory and
respiratory care satellites may be included in the higher range
along with more generous space for the administrative
communication center and other support services.
Higher range may include additional space for staff offices,
staff lockers, and conference/classrooms, and on-call facilities
on the patient care floor.
Higher range may include a family consultation/grieving room,
family kitchenette, and an education center in addition to a
family/visitor lounge.
Total net square feet.
Net to gross space conversion factor.
Total department gross square feet.

Note: NSF represents the net square feet or inside wall-to-wall dimensions of all individual rooms.

Source: SpaceMed Guide.

2012.5.2

Copyright SpaceMed

www.spacemed.com

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