Simulation-Based Tool for Evaluating Health Care Designs

Poorly designed health care spaces can introduce hazards for both patients and health care providers into the built environment. Including end users in the design process is essential to avoiding such problems. One way to do this is by designing and creating mock-up environments in which health care providers can enact processes and procedures that will be performed in the space with the goal of identifying any challenges inadvertently caused by the design.

The Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA) has developed a simulation-based mock-up tool to support planning and evaluation of such health care environment mock-ups. The tool, which outlines a systematic way to collect and analyze data from simulation in full-scale mock-ups, is available for download from the HQCA website.