Workplace Utilization in hospitals – A study of space efficiency potentials

Administrative non-patient workstations of medical staff are often rarely occupied, as physicians use various spaces in their daily routine. Occupancy data for administrative workplaces in hospitals are scarce but needed as a basis for planning for costly projects. Thus, the objective of this secondary data analysis was to compare the occupancy rate of traditional administrative offices to medical offices in hospitals. Additionally, the activities performed at the workstation are compared. Occupancy data resulting from Space Utilization Surveys in 14 offices were compared with data from for hospitals projects. The data results from multi-moment observations that were conducted twice per hour on three days while presence and activity patterns were collected. The office data and the hospital data were analyzed descriptively. Average occupancy and activities were studied and recognised that compared to offices, workstations in the hospitals have significantly lower occupancy rates. Activities at workstations in hospitals and activities in offices are significantly different. The results show more communication activities in hospitals and less computer work compared to offices. According to this analysis space efficiency poten-tials exist. The results indicate that the way workstations are used in hospitals is different from traditional offices. Medical staff spend a large part of the working day away from their backstage desks. However, the use of desks is less plannable as in offices and changes of room take place frequently. Therefore, it’s unclear whether the efficiency potentials can be realized in a way as for administrative offices.