Medical Testing Laboratory
A medical testing laboratory is a laboratory that performs medical testing, primarily involving the biological, microbiological, immunological, and pathological testing of samples derived from the human body. Currently, there are two main types: third-party medical laboratories and hospital laboratories and pathology departments. From the initial design phase, a scientific layout is required based on the laboratory's area, shape, and functional requirements. Clear distinctions must be made between personnel flow, material flow, waste flow, and specimen flow within the laboratory to ensure an organized layout and efficient use of space.
Main testing items include: genetic testing, cell preparation, molecular diagnostics, medical testing, forensic testing, ecological testing of various body fluids, immunological testing, microbiological testing, blood testing, cell line testing, etc.
I. Site Selection for Medical Laboratory Construction:
1. Surrounding environment: Fully consider environmental protection design requirements, mainly including wastewater and waste treatment, noise protection, and radiation protection.
2. Choose a location with sufficient natural light and good ventilation, and at a certain distance from other buildings.
3. Select a location that facilitates sample collection and transportation, especially considering the frequent interaction between the testing laboratory and the outside world, and the convenience of transportation.
4. Microorganisms are classified into four levels based on their hazard level; choose the appropriate level.
II. Precautions for On-Site Measurement and Inspection of Medical Testing Laboratory Construction:
1. Request the construction company to provide the overall site plan, floor plans, and laboratory layout plans with accurate dimensions whenever possible;
2. Assess the spatial dimensions and relationships of the building and interior spaces on-site, checking for any discrepancies between the actual site and the architectural drawings, and observing the proportional relationships of the original interior structural spaces;
3. Conduct necessary measurements and record the combination and dimensional relationships of key parts and components on-site;
4. Planar dimensions should generally be measured starting from the main entrance, proceeding room by room in sequence.
III. Requirements for the Construction and Layout of Medical Laboratories:
1. The usable area of the medical laboratory shall be no less than 75% of the total area. The building should have dual power supply or emergency power generation facilities, and important medical equipment and networks should have uninterruptible power supplies.
2. For a laboratory with one clinical testing specialty, the building area shall be no less than 500 square meters; for laboratories with two or more clinical testing specialties, the building area shall increase by 300 square meters for each additional specialty.
3. There should be corresponding work areas, and the workflow should meet the work requirements.
4. A waste temporary storage area should be provided, along with facilities and equipment for waste and wastewater treatment, meeting the requirements for disinfection and harmless disposal of waste and wastewater.
IV. Requirements for Ventilation Systems in Medical Testing Laboratories:
1. A pressure difference of 5 Pa should be maintained between different zones to ensure the cleanliness of the laboratory air and that airflow is from clean areas to contaminated areas. A pressure gauge should be installed in an easily observable location.
2. Laboratories should avoid sharing a single air conditioning unit. Separate air conditioning units prevent cross-contamination and save on operating costs.
3. The air purification system should have three layers of air filtration: coarse, medium, and high-efficiency filters. The coarse filter should be located at the fresh air intake, the medium-efficiency filter in the positive pressure section of the air conditioning unit, and the high-efficiency filter at the end of the system's supply air duct.
V. Planning and Design of Medical Testing Laboratories:
1. Main Functional Areas: Including clinical blood and body fluid testing, clinical chemistry testing, clinical immunology testing, clinical microbiology testing, clinical cytomolecular genetics, and clinical pathology, etc., complying with relevant requirements for biological and medical management, with strict separation of clean areas, semi-contaminated areas, and contaminated areas, and complete biological facilities.
2. Auxiliary Functional Areas: Centralized power supply, water supply, and others.
3. Management Areas: Administrative (personnel, office, etc.), procurement, finance, quality assurance, logistics, information management, and other departments;
4. Design Aspects: Overall construction plan and planning of each functional area, laboratory furniture usage, and design plans for decoration, water and electricity, ventilation, and air conditioning;
VI. Medical Laboratory Renovation Process:
1. Overall Construction Flow: Production processes or usage requirements are often the basic factors in determining the construction flow. Decoration and renovation projects typically adopt a top-down construction flow.
2. Overall Construction Procedure: Measurement and layout → Procurement of main equipment and materials → Equipment and pipeline installation → Decoration and renovation → Equipment installation and commissioning → Cleaning and finishing → Completion and acceptance.
3. Overall Construction Sequence: The construction sequence is an objective law inherent in the construction steps. This project's supporting works should adopt parallel, continuous, and multi-level cross-operation, divided into systems and construction sections.
4. Equipment and pipeline installation first, then decoration and renovation;
5. Main lines first, then branch lines;
6. Maximize prefabrication to reduce scattered installation;
7. Coordination with other trades first (e.g., pre-embedding, pre-reservation), then independent work;
8. Air (ventilation pipes) first, then water (pipes), then electricity (conduits), i.e., electricity avoids water, and water avoids air;
9. Small pipes yield to large pipes, branch pipes yield to main pipes; non-pressure pipes yield to pressure pipes; general pipes yield to insulated pipes;
10. In decoration and renovation projects, the ceiling comes first, then the walls, and finally the floor.