Abstract
Purpose: Recently an experience in the MERS crisis focused on the importance of infection control in hospitals. According to Korean National healthcare-associated Infection Surveillance System (KONIS) of the KSICP, a great number of 498 people, 841 people, and 1021 people were infected by pneumonia, urinary tract infection, and bacteremia respectively from 94 hospital ICUs during the year of 2014. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the configuration and design guidelines for the ICU rooms to minimize the nosocominal infections. Methods: Based on the several infection control guidelines and revised Medical Law, consequent analyses which classified the planning and operational behavior in the ICUs of seven hospitals, were performed to reduce the cross-infection. Results: The results of this study are offering a space, configuration and design guidelines for effective infection control in the intensive care units through the unit-bed area, the bed-to-bed distance, the isolation room, etc. Implications: It is expected that this study propose the direction of architectural planning and guideline for the ICU room in order to realize the intension of revised Medical Law.