Hospital Laboratory Design and Planning Recommendations

Hospital laboratory laboratories play a vital role in the overall hospital process. To build a scientifically designed, safe, and efficient hospital laboratory, the following factors should be considered: building, decoration, and structure; floor plan; air conditioning, ventilation, and purification; water, drainage, and gas supply; electrical; fire protection; and testing and acceptance. Based on years of laboratory construction experience, we have summarized the key planning and design guidelines for hospital laboratory laboratories.

Hospital Laboratory Laboratory

What is a hospital laboratory laboratory?

A laboratory laboratory is a clinical medical laboratory that primarily performs tests and analyses on body fluids such as blood, saliva, and urine. It includes six laboratory departments: clinical testing, microbiology, biochemistry, immunology, and HIV testing, as well as a blood bank.

What projects does a hospital laboratory laboratory perform? The department's primary work is to provide accurate and scientific testing evidence for various diseases, including biochemistry, cytology, hematology, and immunology, for clinical diagnosis, treatment efficacy tracking, and prognosis estimation. From pathogen identification to clinical drug sensitivity testing and bacterial resistance monitoring, the department also provides clinical recommendations for appropriate antibiotic use.

What testing equipment is available in a hospital laboratory? Laboratory equipment includes: biochemistry analyzers, hematology analyzers, coagulometers, urine sediment analyzers, centrifuges, water purifiers, printers, chemiluminescence analyzers, plate washers, microscopes, water baths, incubators, refrigerators, biosafety cabinets, and computers.

What are the main functional areas in a hospital laboratory?

The main functional spaces in a hospital laboratory include: specimen reception area, emergency treatment area, body fluid collection area, instrument room, biochemical and immunoassay room, HIV screening room, drug preparation room, PCR laboratory, microbiology room, culture room, and clean room.

Hospital Laboratory
The rationality of the interior space design of a hospital laboratory directly impacts workflow, internal communication, and work efficiency. The overarching design principle is to minimize unreasonable artificial obstacles and create an aesthetically pleasing, elegant, safe, comfortable, and efficient laboratory environment.

The design should also fully consider the water supply and drainage systems, electrical systems, lighting, ventilation, heating, and cooling systems, and disinfection and infection control systems. The rational layout of the network management facilities for these systems will directly impact laboratory safety and even the accuracy of test results.

1. Square Meter Layout Requirements
The laboratory department is generally located in the outpatient building and should be a separate area. The layout of the laboratory department should clearly distinguish between contaminated, semi-contaminated, and clean areas, with physical separation between these areas.

The contaminated area primarily consists of the testing laboratory and blood collection room; the semi-contaminated area primarily consists of auxiliary rooms such as the reagent storage room and water preparation room; and the clean area primarily consists of offices and changing rooms.

The laboratory department should ensure the separation of human and material flows. Personnel and belongings should have separate entrances and exits. Contaminated materials, in particular, should have dedicated exits and be transported via the hospital's dedicated waste elevator to the hospital's designated centralized medical waste storage area. Using the hospital's passenger elevator is strictly prohibited.

Laboratory Construction Considerations
HIV screening laboratory: Divided into clean, semi-contaminated, and contaminated areas, the area should not be less than 45 m2.
Microbiology laboratory: Divided into a preparation room, buffer room, and work area, the area should not be less than 35 m2.
PCR laboratory: Divided into a reagent preparation room, sample preparation room, and amplification analysis room. A buffer room should be provided at the front of each laboratory, with a total area not less than 60 m2.

Biochemical area: During design, special attention should be paid to biochemical equipment. Biochemical equipment is updated rapidly, so before design, contact the equipment manufacturer to determine equipment placement, weight, specifications, water consumption, power consumption, and other parameters.

Blood collection area: It is recommended that the area be separated into separate areas. The blood collection window should be no less than 1.2 m long and 45-60 cm wide. The number of blood collection windows should be determined based on the average daily outpatient volume, taking into account future business development needs.

Instrument room: Separate the pretreatment room and instrument analysis room; separate sample processing rooms for different types of samples; and separate instrument rooms for different types of instruments that may interfere with each other.

2. Interior Decoration and Cleanliness Requirements
Laboratory Renovation Considerations
Flooring Materials: Seamless, non-slip, and corrosion-resistant flooring is required. Rubber or PVC flooring is commonly used as decorative materials. Joints should be soldered with matching solder, planed, and polished.
Ceiling and Wall Panel Materials: They must be easy to clean and disinfect, dust-free, crack-resistant, smooth, waterproof, and scrub-resistant. Double-sided sandwich color-coated steel plates are commonly used, with a fire rating of no less than Class B1.
Laboratory Door Requirements: They should be self-closing, preferably with an observation window, lockable, and equipped with a door closer. An operating status indicator light can be installed on the door header to indicate whether the lab is occupied.
Laboratory Window Requirements: Openable external windows should not be installed on walls; enclosed observation windows are permitted.
Laboratory Wall Joints: Both the wall-floor and wall-ceiling joints should be rounded. Color-coated steel plate joints should be sealed with sealant to ensure the laboratory's airtightness. Laboratory ceiling height requirements: The ideal ceiling height is 2.6 meters. Manholes should not be installed in the main laboratory ceiling.

3. Ventilation and Air Conditioning Engineering Requirements
Laboratory Ventilation System Considerations
Cleanroom laboratories should avoid sharing a single air conditioning unit across multiple laboratories. Independent air conditioning units can effectively prevent cross-contamination and reduce operating costs.

Laboratory air conditioning design parameters should refer to the "Technical Specifications for Biosafety Laboratory Construction." The design should also consider the heat and humidity loads of equipment such as biosafety cabinets, centrifuges, and incubators.

The air purification system should include three stages of air filtration: coarse, medium, and high-efficiency. The coarse filter should be located at the fresh air inlet, the medium filter should be located in the positive pressure section of the air conditioning unit, and the high-efficiency filter should be located at the system's air outlet.

The fresh air inlet should be at least 2.5 meters above the ground. It should be protected from rodents, insects, and rain, and equipped with easily removable and cleanable filters. The laboratory's exhaust fan should be interlocked with the supply fan. The exhaust fan should be turned on before the supply fan and off after the supply fan. Indoor exhaust ducting should be separate from the exhaust ducting for equipment such as biosafety cabinets.

Indoor supply and exhaust vents should be arranged to minimize stagnant airflow. Air supply and exhaust in clean rooms should utilize an upward supply and downward exhaust system.

A pressure differential of at least 5 Pa should be maintained between laboratory areas to ensure that air flows from clean to contaminated areas and avoid backflow contamination. A differential pressure gauge is recommended in a readily observable location.

Air conditioning units and filters should not be made of wood; corrosion-resistant, non-absorbent materials should be used. The air leakage rate of air conditioning units should be less than 2%.

Air conditioning primarily utilizes fan coil units with fresh air systems. The hospital's centralized cooling and heating sources are used in winter and summer. If the hospital lacks cooling and heating sources in spring and autumn, self-provided air-cooled modular units can be used.

4. Electrical Engineering Requirements
Biosafety laboratories must ensure reliable power supply. The power load should not fall below Level 2. An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) should be installed to ensure a minimum 30-minute backup power supply for key equipment after a mains power outage. A sufficient number of fixed power sockets should be provided within the biosafety laboratory. Important equipment should have separate power circuits and be equipped with leakage protection devices.

Lighting System
Laboratory illumination: ≥ 300 lx; ​​buffer room illumination: ≥ 200 lx; ​​office area illumination: ≥ 200 lx.
Laboratories should be equipped with ultraviolet (UV) sterilization lamps. One UV lamp (30W) can be provided for every 10-15 square meters.
The number and location of evacuation lights, emergency lights, and exit signs should comply with fire safety regulations.

Power Distribution System
Sufficient sockets should be provided during electrical design, and the power consumption of key laboratory equipment should be understood in advance. A dedicated power distribution box should be installed in the biosafety laboratory. Before designing an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), consult with the laboratory manager to determine the equipment requiring it and the shortest power supply duration. The UPS should be placed in a well-ventilated location.

New Weak Current System
Telephone Network Terminals: A sufficient number of telephone network terminals should be installed within the laboratory to meet the laboratory's information management requirements.
Access Control System: This system restricts access to unauthorized personnel and ensures laboratory security.
Monitoring System: This system monitors laboratory personnel's access, daily work, and video tutorials.
Call System: An emergency call extension should be installed within the laboratory, and the call center should be located in the duty room.

5. Requirements for Water Supply and Drainage Systems

Laboratory Water Supply and Drainage Considerations
Pure Water System: The primary laboratory equipment using pure water is a biochemical analyzer. Before designing the laboratory's pure water system, consult with the laboratory manager regarding the water consumption points and water usage at each point.

Water Supply System: Handwashing stations should be installed in biosafety laboratories, preferably near the laboratory exit. The water supply to these handwashing stations should be non-manually controlled. Indoor water supply pipes should be made of stainless steel, copper, or non-toxic plastic, and the pipes should be securely connected.

Drainage System: Floor drains should not be installed in clean laboratories. Laboratory drainage should be separated from living area drainage, and laboratory drainage should be directed to the hospital's sewage treatment plant.

6. Laboratory Furniture Requirements
Laboratory Furniture Considerations
Laboratory furniture can be categorized by material type: all-steel, all-wood, and steel-wood. All-steel furniture is aesthetically pleasing but relatively expensive. All-wood furniture is less popular due to its load-bearing and waterproofing limitations, while steel-wood furniture offers a more moderate choice. Design should consider the hospital's budget and select the appropriate furniture.

Laboratory benchtops are primarily made of epoxy resin board, solid physicochemical board, and Trespa. Because clinical laboratory labs rarely use high-temperature equipment, solid physicochemical board and Trespa are generally recommended.

Before fabrication, the design and length/width of a laboratory bench should be determined based on site conditions and work requirements. Insufficient furniture can hinder work flow, while excessive furniture can take up too much space. To summarize:
A high-quality laboratory is the foundation of high-quality testing.
The laboratory department serves as a bridge between clinical medicine and basic medicine. It is a clinical diagnostic department within a hospital that receives blood, body fluids, and other samples from patients, performs tests and analyses, and issues test reports to clinical physicians. A scientifically designed laboratory provides a safe and efficient working environment for testing personnel.