(a) Patient observation and recovery areas shall be provided in sufficient number to accommodate the patient load with a planned minimum three-hour recovery period and longer when necessary for individual patients. Such areas shall be comfortably furnished and adequately equipped for a patient's safe postoperative observation and recovery.
(b) A facility shall provide at least one recovery room equipped for use by and observation of patients requiring recumbent care post-surgically. A minimum of one hospital-type bed or wheeled recovery room stretcher shall be provided for every ten post-surgical patients to be cared for at any one time.
(c) Single bed/stretcher recovery rooms shall provide a minimum of 100 square feet of usable floor space. Multiple bed/stretcher recovery rooms shall provide a minimum of eighty square feet of floor space per bed or stretcher.
(d) Patient observation and recovery rooms shall have a minimum door width of three feet.
(e) A recovery room shall be designed to provide a minimum of three feet between beds or stretchers and four feet of clearance at the foot of a bed or stretcher.
(f) Comfortably furnished congregate rooms equipped with either reclining or lounge-type chairs or cots may be provided for the postsurgical observation of patients not needing bed or stretcher accommodations. Each congregate type room shall provide a minimum of fifty square feet of usable floor space for each patient to be accommodated. A congregate room shall not contain accommodations for more than twelve patients.
(g) A toilet and lavatory shall be provided for every six recovery patients as a minimum. One or more bathing facilities are recommended.
(h) Corridors used for patient entry and egress and for surgical care areas in a facility shall have a minimum width of six feet.
(i) The numerical capacity of a facility shall be determined by the number of observation and recovery units provided. The postsurgical occupancy of a facility shall not exceed the determined capacity.
(Ord. 1978-72. Passed 10-18-78.)