Visibility analysis of hospital inpatient ward

The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of hospital inpatient ward spatial configuration in relation to visibility. Visibility is an important aspect in a hospital inpatient ward, and could support healthcare performance. Visibility is required in an inpatient ward for the purposes of control, surveillance, interaction and communication among patients and nurses, and it could be affected by the spatial configuration of the ward. Based on isovist as a way to visualize the visual experience in surrounding environments, we developed an analytical tool to evaluate the visibility of an inpatient ward in a planned university teaching hospital. The findings illustrate the visibility as experienced by the users in the everyday operation of the hospital ward. Some recommendations for improvement were suggested to the existing spatial configuration for better visibility.