Page 143 - The 11th Graduate Integrity Conference Proceeding

Abstract
Nowadays community hospitals provide health services for everybody, but they do not still
physically meet the usage of the group of people with physical limitations, e.g. elders and people with
disabilities. This study aimed to 1) investigate physical environment and accessible facilities for elders and
people with disabilities in the community hospital of Nonthaburi and compare the conformity in
accordance to the Ministerial Regulation B.E. 2548 (2005) and the Ministerial Regulation B.E. 2555 (2012).
2) investigate issues of space and 3) study the attitude towards the universal design concept.
This study was qualitative research collecting data by surveying the physical environment and
facility of the community hospital of Nonthaburi, observing space usage problems of staff and visitors by
taking notes and pictures and conducting the interviews with personnel inside the hospital, e.g. executives,
staff and patients’ relatives. The research instruments were a physical environment questionnaire and an
interview form. The collected data were content analyzed, grouped and prioritized.
The results of the survey of both internal and external building of the community hospital of
Nonthaburi were found that the facilities for elders and people with disabilities were not suitable and not
in compliance with the Interior Ministerial Regulations, e.g. accessible parking spaces, ramps, toilets, service
counters, signs, signages and there was no facility designed for persons with visually and hearing
impairments. Based on observations on space usage problems, it was found that 1) at the screening counter,
there was no sufficient space for staff to operate, 2) at the waiting area, there was no parking space for
wheelchairs. Patients who use wheelchairs could not easily access the counter. The corridors were too
narrow for wheelchair users. The walkways had no tactile paving surfaces. Based on the interviews, it was
found that the hospital provided accessible facilities but they might not meet the Interior Ministerial
Regulations because of limitations of budget and space. Assistive devices provided for people with blindness
have not been used effectively since there were very few people. Regarding the attitude, it was found that
executives and staffs considered that the community hospital of Nonthaburi should added more spaces
next to accessible parking, and the ramp with slope of 1:12. Accessible toilets should be equipped with
retractable handrails, accessible service counters with the height of 80 centimeters and with the space
under the counter to insert the wheelchairs, signages indicating the direction to each facility, tactile paving
surfaces on the area of stairways and ramps.

Keywords: Hospital, Accessible Facility, Elder, Universal design

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