Since its founding in 1998, the Facilities Guidelines Institute has been developing, revising, and publishing guidelines for the construction and renovation of hospitals and outpatient facilities. In 2010, it came out with guidelines that specifically addressed noise and vibration. Last year, it published guidelines for residential healthcare facilities, such as nursing homes and assisted living centers.
FGI’s guidelines have a way of insinuating themselves into state healthcare facility codes. Its call, in 2006, for single-bed patient rooms to be an “absolute” for medical, surgical, and obstetric rooms has become the standard for new hospital construction. Forty-two states have adopted FGI guidelines, in part or in full, says FGI’s CEO Douglas Erickson, FASHE, CHFM, HFDP, CHC.
The healthcare industry has largely embraced FGI guidelines. “Hospitals are pressing the AEC community to at least advise the owner about the latest guidelines, and then let the owner decide if it wants to take the leap,” says Erickson.
FGI gets about a thousand suggestions for new guidelines or revisions from the public every year, says the institute’s Chairman and President, Kurt Rockstroh, FAIA, FACHA, President/CEO, Steffian Bradley Architects & Planners. Those ideas are vetted by steering and revision committees; if accepted, they are turned into draft documents and submitted for public comment. A cost-benefits committee serves as another filter. Eventually all of FGI’s committee members vote on whether a proposal becomes a guideline. Each four-year revision cycle costs FGI about $2 million.
The 2014 revised guidelines touch on six factors that affect a hospital’s soundscape:
1. Site exterior noise
2. Acoustic finishes and details
3. Room noise levels and minimum sound coefficients for various types of rooms
4. Sound isolation and speech privacy
5. Alarms and sound-masking techniques
6. Vibration
Because FGI does not include suppliers or manufacturers on its committee, its revision cycle is not ANSI-approved, although it does follow ANSI protocols as much as possible, says Erickson. The 2018 revisions, which will be voted on by 105 committee members, are likely to include guidelines about alarm fatigue in hospitals.
Related Stories
| May 3, 2012
Ground broken for $94 million hospital expansion at Scripps Encinitas
New facility to more than double emergency department size, boost inpatient beds by 43%.
| May 1, 2012
Construction is underway on MLK ambulatory care center in L.A.
Featuring a variety of sustainable features, the new facility is designed to achieve LEED Gold Certification.
| Apr 27, 2012
GreenExpo365.com to offer webinars on EPA’s WaterSense Program
Architects and builders interested in developing water-efficient buildings invited to attend free sessions featuring experts discussing water-efficient building practices.
| Apr 25, 2012
McCarthy introduces high school students to a career in construction
High school students from the ACE Mentoring Program tour the new CHOC Children’s Patient Tower in Orange, Calif.
| Apr 20, 2012
McCarthy completes Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Replacement Facility
The new hospital’s architectural design combines traditional Santa Barbara Spanish colonial architecture with 21st century medical conveniences highlighted by a therapeutic and sustainable atmosphere.
| Apr 18, 2012
Perkins+Will designs new complex for Johns Hopkins Hosptial
The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center and the Sheikh Zayed Tower create transformative patient-centric care.
| Apr 17, 2012
Alberici receives 2012 ASA General Contractor of the Year award
Alberici has been honored by the ASA eight times in the award’s nineteen-year history--more than any other general contractor in its class.
| Apr 16, 2012
Freeland promoted to vice president at Heery International
Recently named to Building Design+Construction’s 40 Under 40 Class of 2012.
| Apr 16, 2012
Batson-Cook breaks ground on senior living center in Brunswick, Ga.
Marks the third Benton House project constructed by Batson-Cook.
| Apr 4, 2012
HDS designs Mount Auburn Hospital’s new healthcare center in Waltham, Mass.
HDS Architecture provided design services for all the Mount Auburn Healthcare suites including coordination of HVAC and FP engineering.