Modular Isolation Units for Patients with Mild-to-Moderate Conditions in Response to Hospital Surges Resulting from the COVID-19 Pandemic
Corresponding email: yandiay@eng.ui.ac.id
Published at : 25 Jan 2021
Volume : IJtech
Vol 12, No 1 (2021)
DOI : https://doi.org/10.14716/ijtech.v12i1.4115
Yatmo, Y.A., Harahap, M.M.Y., Atmodiwirjo, P. 2021. Modular Isolation Units for Patients with Mild-to-Moderate Conditions in Response to Hospital Surges Resulting from the COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Technology. Volume 12(1), pp. 43-53
| Yandi Andri Yatmo | Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia, Kampus UI Depok, Depok 16424, Indonesia |
| Mochammad Mirza Yusuf Harahap | Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia, Kampus UI Depok, Depok 16424, Indonesia |
| Paramita Atmodiwirjo | Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia, Kampus UI Depok, Depok 16424, Indonesia |
This
paper presents a design proposal of an Isolation Recovery House (IRH), an
adaptable modular isolation care unit specifically designed for patients with
mild-to-moderate conditions as a response to an infectious disease outbreak. In
particular, the study responds to the current COVID-19 pandemic, which urges
the installation of isolation facilities as quickly as possible. The study
offers a design solution that could expand the capacity for isolation
facilities, especially in underdeveloped or developing countries, such as
Indonesia, with many regions located further away from big cities. The design
proposal assists existing hospitals in reducing excessive workload due to the
surge in patients and control possible in-hospital transmission. The study
began by investigating criteria for designing and constructing quickly-built
isolation facilities that comply with the standards for isolation space,
particularly COVID-19 patients. The criteria, namely quick construction,
adaptability to various contexts, and meets the minimum isolation space design
standards, formed the basis for proposing the IRH design. This paper argues
that as a ready-to-implement design, IRH could be an option to improve
health-care services during the pandemic.
Adaptable; Isolation space design; Modular; Pandemic
Since its
declaration as a pandemic, COVID-19 has brought an enormous workload to
hospitals around the world. A pandemic increases the need for intensive
isolation spaces, where all admitted patients can be closely monitored and
treated based on their conditions (Mitchell et al.,
2017). Hospitals’ ICUs, however, are typically designated for patients
with severe conditions even though patients with mild-to-moderate conditions
must still be isolated as well—whether they are in the recovery phase or an
early phase of infection (Phua et al., 2020)—to
make sure that there is no further unwanted transmission. This study presents a
plausible design proposal as an alternative application of technology (Suwartha et al., 2017) that addresses the aspects
of isolation space facilities in the pandemic.
Several approaches have been applied to meet the need for isolation spaces, including the adaptation of existing spaces within hospital buildings (Valipoor et al., 2020), the alteration of existing structures with vast space, such as stadiums and exhibition spaces (Yuen et al., 2012; Chen and Zhao, 2020), and the installation of new isolation units (Mo, 2020). However, when it comes to hospitals or health-care facilities in regions far away from large cities, there is a concern regarding their capacity to provide such additional isolation spaces as there are less resources compared to hospitals located in larger cities or other more resourceful areas (Nwanya et al., 2016; Blavin and Arnos, 2020). This study explores the potential of a modular design to be implemented in such a situation.
The study has proposed the Isolation Recovery House (IRH), a design of
adaptable isolation units that is applicable to various contexts in a pandemic
or other major health-care situations. Through careful compilation of the
minimum criteria for installing isolation spaces and modular construction
systems, the study furnishes a design that responds to the need for providing
additional isolation space for hospitals, health-care facilities, or other
institutions with limited resources. This study positioned the IRH as a
possible low-tech isolation space that does not neglect the minimum standards
required of isolation space. Moreover, the modular system incorporated in the
design not only offers the opportunity for fast construction and the ability to
fit in various contexts, but it can also be disassembled for post-pandemic
usage. However, like other health-care facilities, the IRH needs to be
accompanied by other isolation and health-care measures when implemented, such
as clinical procedures, cleaning procedures, and standards for staff safety.
The study presented in this paper particularly contributes to the
architectural design practice of the health-care environment in the event of an
emergency. Emergency health-care situations, such as a pandemic, force
countries to take drastic measures to respond to hospital surges that can be
costly despite the resource gap among the countries or areas within those
countries that affects the extension of measures a hospital can take (Blavin and Arnos, 2020). Nevertheless, many of
the emergency facilities cannot meet the resource constraint these areas have.
In particular, the study adds insight into a possible low-tech health-care
facility that is not only quick to construct but also relevant to those areas
with limited resources.
The
proposed IRH design is open to further development for more robust
implementation both in the current COVID-19 pandemic and for other possible
future needs. It is necessary to conduct further investigations that look
closely at how the IRH is implemented. Therefore, the quick construction and
aspects of adaptability and flexibility of the IRH design proposal would be
verified. A study assessing aspects revolving around the performance of the
isolation space, such as a simulation study which visualizes the airflow within
the IRH units, would be highly beneficial as way to ensure the performance of
health-care through computational approach (Johanes
et al., 2015). Further research on various systems to support the design
in tackling the impact of the pandemic, such as food and medicine distribution,
infection control, and the advancement of information technology (Berawi et al., 2020) is also necessary.
Integration of the proposed design into relevant systems is essential to
achieving the design purpose.
This research is
supported by Penelitian Dasar Ristek-BRIN 2020, a research grant provided by
the Ministry of Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia.
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