Hospital furniture design is not a “medicalized modification” of ordinary civilian furniture, but a systematic design that revolves around three core principles—”adaptation to medical procedures, prevention and control of infection risks, and comfort for both medical staff and patients”—while integrating the characteristics of different departmental scenarios. Its core logic is to make furniture an “extended carrier of medical processes” rather than mere spatial decorations. Below, we analyze the key points of hospital furniture design from four dimensions: scenario-based design, safety compliance, ergonomics, and humanistic care.
I. Scenario-Based Design: Precise Adaptation to Departmental Needs, Avoiding a “One-Size-Fits-All” Approach
Functional differences between different hospital areas are significant. Furniture design must closely align with the core needs of each scenario to ensure every piece of furniture directly supports clinical work.
1. Furniture for Treatment Areas: Focus on “Efficient Operation + Sterile Protection”
Treatment areas (consulting rooms, treatment rooms, operating rooms) are the core of medical activities. Furniture here must serve “quick access to items, convenient operation, and prevention of cross-infection”:
- Treatment Cabinets/Instrument Cabinets:
- Partition Design: Layered by “frequency of use” (commonly used instruments such as syringes and iodophor are placed in the 1.2-1.5m “golden zone”; backup supplies are placed on the top/bottom layers). Separated by “contamination level” (physical isolation between clean and used instruments, with a disinfection transition zone in between).
- Material Selection: Priority is given to 304 stainless steel or antibacterial artificial stone (resistant to frequent disinfection with alcohol and iodophor, with seamless, non-porous surfaces and no hygiene dead corners).
- Operational Details: Drawers use “push-to-open” mechanisms (allowing medical staff to operate with one hand while holding instruments with both hands); cabinet doors are equipped with “silent damping hinges” (to avoid noise disturbing patients during treatment).
- Treatment Chairs/Examination Beds:
- Functional Adaptation: Height-adjustable (to accommodate doctors of different heights and facilitate transfer of wheelchair users) and angle-adjustable (e.g., the tilt angle of gynecological examination beds needs to be precise to 5° increments).
- Safety Protection: Edges are rounded with a radius of ≥5mm; skin-contact parts use medical-grade PU material (breathable, anti-allergic, and easy to clean and disinfect).
- Auxiliary Design: Side-mounted “instrument hangers” (such as handpiece hangers beside dental treatment chairs) and “sewage collection grooves” (to prevent medication dripping and contaminating the floor during treatment).
2. Furniture for Nurse Stations: Creating an “Efficient Dispatch Hub”
Nurse stations are the core hub of ward management. Furniture design must optimize workflows for “information entry, patient reception, and emergency response”:
- Layout Design:
- Mostly adopt L-shaped or U-shaped layouts (utilizing corner space to reduce the number of steps nurses take). Divided into an “operation zone” (embedded with computers and printers, with reserved interfaces for the hospital’s Hospital Information System (HIS)) and a “reception zone” (counter height reduced to 70-75cm to accommodate standing communication with patients, with reserved service positions for wheelchair users).
- Storage Design: Equipped with “emergency quick-access cabinets” (opened in 3 seconds via staff ID card scanning, storing first-aid kits and blood pressure monitors, with built-in LED lights that turn on when the door opens) and “medical record classification racks” (placed at a 15° tilt by bed number for easy access without bending).
- Materials and Details:
- Countertops use “antibacterial fireproof boards” (scratch-resistant, suitable for direct placement of frequently used items such as stethoscopes and thermometers); frames use cold-rolled steel (high load-bearing capacity, suitable for long-term placement of printers, calling screens, etc.).
- Reserved “smart module interfaces” (such as call-linked LED lights and wireless charging areas, facilitating later installation of smart devices).
3. Furniture for Waiting Areas: Emphasizing “Comfortable Waiting + Anxiety Relief”
Waiting areas are patients’ “first impression zones” of the hospital. Furniture here must alleviate anxiety and adapt to diverse groups (the elderly, children, and people with disabilities):
- Waiting Chairs:
- Ergonomics: Backrest curvature fits the human spine (no back pain after 2 hours of sitting); armrest height is 65cm (assisting the elderly or mobility-impaired in standing); chair spacing is ≥80cm (ensuring privacy and avoiding a cramped feel).
- Barrier-Free Design: 1-2 “wheelchair-accessible seats” per row (with ≥60cm×80cm space beside the chair for easy wheelchair transfer); some seats are equipped with “foldable armrests” (facilitating seating for obese patients or pregnant women).
- Material Selection: Antibacterial PU leather (stain-resistant; saliva or beverage spills can be wiped immediately, avoiding the difficulty of cleaning fabric materials).
- Auxiliary Furniture:
- Information Display Desks: Curved design (avoiding the rigidity of right angles); embedded touchscreens on the countertop (displaying waiting time and doctor profiles); with “layered information racks” below (holding health manuals, tilted at 15° for easy reading).
- Children’s Comfort Corners: Custom cartoon-shaped upholstered stools (e.g., animal or cloud shapes, in soft colors like light blue or off-white); low-height picture book racks (holding medical science picture books to reduce children’s fear of “seeing a doctor”).
4. Furniture for Disinfection Areas: Adhering to “Sterile Processes + Compliance Traceability”
Disinfection areas (central sterile supply departments, departmental disinfection rooms) are key links in infection prevention and control. Furniture design must adapt to the full process of “cleaning – disinfection – sterilization – storage”:
- Instrument Cleaning Tables:
- Structural Design: Integrally formed 304 stainless steel countertops (seamless and water-resistant), divided into “three-slot partitions” (pre-rinsing slot, ultrasonic cleaning slot, final rinsing slot, each with a depth of ≥20cm to accommodate surgical instruments); “anti-clogging filters” at the bottom of slots (trapping small parts such as screws).
- Auxiliary Functions: 5mm-high water retaining strips on the edge of the countertop (to prevent disinfectant spillage); “drawer-type tool cabinets” below (storing cleaning brushes and disinfection baskets, with operation step labels on the outside).
- Sterile Storage Cabinets:
- Sterility Assurance: Double-door design (outer door for pollution prevention; inner door with UV + ozone dual disinfection, automatically disinfecting for 30 minutes every 4 hours); internal layers classified by “instrument type” (e.g., surgical forceps, suture needles, with laser-engraved labels on each layer).
- Traceability Management: Built-in weight sensors (recording instrument access time and quantity, with data synchronized to the hospital’s infection control system); brake-equipped casters at the bottom (movable to treatment areas to reduce contamination during instrument transfer).
II. Safety and Compliance Design: Adhering to Medical Standards, Building a Solid Safety Foundation
Hospital furniture must meet strict safety requirements of medical scenarios. All designs must comply with national and industry standards to avoid risks caused by design defects.
1. Material Safety: Meeting Medical-Grade Environmental and Antibacterial Requirements
- Environmental Standards: Formaldehyde emission ≤0.05mg/m³ (in line with GB 18587-2017 Limits of Formaldehyde Emission from Wood-Based Panels and Their Products for Interior Decoration and Furnishing), free of benzene, heavy metals, and other harmful substances.
- Antibacterial Standards: Antibacterial rate of high-frequency contact surfaces (countertops, armrests, drawer inner walls) ≥99% (in line with GB/T 39992-2021 General Technical Conditions for Medical Furniture in Hospitals). In particular, furniture for infectious disease departments and pediatric departments requires additional “antiviral coating treatment”.
- Durability: Steel furniture frames have a thickness of ≥1.2mm (resistant to collisions from medical carts); upholstered furniture fabrics have a friction resistance of ≥5,000 times (avoiding damage from long-term use).
2. Structural Safety: Anti-Collision, Anti-Tipping, and Anti-Misoperation
- Anti-Collision: All furniture edges are “rounded” (radius ≥5mm); furniture for pediatric and geriatric departments is equipped with “silicone anti-collision strips” (reducing collision impact).
- Anti-Tipping: Tall cabinets (such as instrument cabinets and medicine cabinets) have a height of ≤2.2m, with “anti-tipping connectors” at the bottom (fixed to the wall, remaining stable when tilted at 15°).
- Anti-Misoperation: High-risk medicine cabinets (e.g., for anesthetics, chemotherapy drugs) are equipped with “dual-lock control” (password + fingerprint/swipe card), triggering audio-visual alerts when opened; sharps recycling cabinets use “foot-operated opening” (avoiding hand contact contamination).
3. Hygienic Safety: No Dead Corners, Easy to Clean, and Disinfectable
- No Hygiene Dead Corners: Gaps between furniture and the floor are ≤2mm (avoiding dust and water accumulation); countertops and cabinets are seamlessly joined (no glue seams or grooves); drawer bottoms use “flat design” (no raised partitions, facilitating wiping).
- Easy to Clean: Surfaces are smooth and flat (roughness Ra ≤1.6μm), avoiding difficult-to-clean designs such as carvings or hollow patterns; detachable components (e.g., cabinet liners, chair cushions) can be disinfected separately (adapting to high-temperature, immersion, and other disinfection methods).
III. Ergonomic Design: Considering Both Medical Staff and Patients, Reducing Fatigue
Hospital furniture users include “medical staff (with long-term high-frequency operations)” and “patients (mostly special groups)”. Designs must adapt to the physiological needs of both groups.
1. For Medical Staff: Reducing Occupational Strain, Improving Work Efficiency
- Workstation Height: Divided into “standing height” (85-90cm, such as nurse station operation zones, where the wrist is level with the countertop when the elbow hangs naturally) and “sitting height” (70-75cm, such as doctor’s office desks, with 15cm of activity space reserved under the countertop for knees).
- Item Access Path: Frequently used items (e.g., iodophor, cotton swabs in treatment cabinets) are placed in the “shoulder-elbow zone” (avoiding bending or tiptoeing, reducing waist and shoulder strain).
- Auxiliary Design: Doctor’s chairs are equipped with “lumbar support” (relieving lumbar pressure from long-term sitting); treatment cart handles are 1.1m high (adapting to most medical staff heights, avoiding bending when pushing).
2. For Patients: Adapting to Special Needs, Improving Comfort
- Adapting to Diverse Groups:
- Elderly/mobility-impaired patients: Waiting chairs with “armrests + back support”; bedside cabinets 70cm high (facilitating leverage when standing up).
- Pediatric patients: Pediatric treatment beds reduced to 60cm in height (reducing children’s fear); waiting chairs sized down (adapting to children’s height to avoid slipping).
- Disabled patients: Nurse stations with “low service counters” (height ≤65cm, convenient for wheelchair users to communicate); waiting areas with reserved ≥1.2m wheelchair passages.
- Detail Care: Examination bed mattresses are ≥10cm thick (reducing discomfort from hard bed boards); spacing between waiting chair armrests is reserved (facilitating seating for obese patients).
IV. Humanistic Care Design: Weakening the Coldness of Medical Settings, Conveying Warmth
Hospital environments easily trigger patient anxiety. Furniture design can convey humanistic warmth through “colors, shapes, and details” to alleviate negative emotions.
1. Color Design: Avoiding “Pure White Oppression”
- Main Colors: Based on light gray and off-white, matched with low-saturation colors (e.g., light blue, light green, warm yellow)—light blue relieves anxiety (suitable for waiting areas and wards); light green conveys vitality (suitable for rehabilitation departments); warm yellow creates warmth (suitable for pediatric and obstetric departments).
- Taboos: Avoid high-saturation red and orange (easily triggering tension); avoid dark colors in infectious disease departments and ICUs (easily causing depression).
2. Shape Design: Reducing “Industrial Feel”, Increasing Softness
- Contours: Use more curved and rounded shapes (e.g., waiting area information desks, pediatric furniture) to avoid sharp right angles.
- Proportions: Furniture sizes are adapted to the space (e.g., “low cabinets + narrow countertops” in small consulting rooms to avoid oppression; “modular combined furniture” in large waiting areas to avoid emptiness).
3. Detail Design: Upgrading from “Functional” to “User-Friendly”
- Waiting Areas: USB charging ports beside each row of waiting chairs (convenient for patients to charge phones, distracting from waiting anxiety); information racks tilted at 15° (easy to read without bending).
- Wards: Bedside cabinets with “water cup grooves” (preventing tipping); wardrobes with built-in “LED sensor lights” (turning on when the door opens, avoiding disturbing roommates when looking for items at night).
- Pediatrics: Furniture surfaces printed with “cartoon patterns” (e.g., teeth, small animals); treatment chair armrests designed as “animal ear shapes” (relieving children’s fear of medical equipment).
Conclusion: Core Logic of Hospital Furniture Design—”Medical Needs as the Foundation, Humanistic Care as the Soul”
The essence of hospital furniture design is to “adapt functions to medical processes, uphold safety as the bottom line, and convey warmth through details”. Whether it is disinfection-resistant treatment cabinets in treatment areas, ergonomic chairs in waiting areas, or cartoon-shaped furniture in pediatrics, all designs revolve around “improving medical staff efficiency and enhancing patient experience”, ultimately achieving the goal of “furniture serving medical care, and medical care warming patients”.
If you need to refine furniture design plans for a specific department (e.g., ICU, pediatrics, rehabilitation), I can compile a “XX Department Hospital Furniture Design Parameter Table” containing core information such as materials, dimensions, and functional modules. Would you like this?
