A Readiness of Areas and Space Planning in Houses Supporting Emergency Services for Fall Injuries in The Elderly

Abstract The global population structure is currently stepping into an aging society. In the change of the world population structure, critical care of older adults from fall injuries at home is a major public health issue since the falls can lead to disability or death. By reviewing the architectural design research, most studies focus on the design approaches aiming to reduce the risk of fall accidents occurred among the elderly. However, no study has investigated the correlation of architectural design in supporting the medical care of seniors after slip and fall accidents. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate area and space planning of typical three single houses supporting emergency medical care for falling accidents amongst the elderly. The study firstly investigates the activities and the area required for the medical operation by interviewing medical specialists and rescue teams from two hospitals and two related agencies. Then, the activities and area requirements are mapped with the room layout of three typical single houses located in the Bangkok neighborhood areas. It is found that the designed layout and room area of all studied houses inadequately supports for emergency situations, which has only two available areas from a total of thirteen areas. The details of the space availability and obstacles for emergency medical care are discussed and proposed for improving the space planning and layout of the house for future work.</jats:p