Abstract
Purpose: The planning of medical facilities involves formulating a comprehensive medical basic plan, translating it into spatial dimensions through a space program. Feasibility assessment often relies on empirical methods like floor area per bed. However, with the shift towards specialized medical concepts, proportional scaling to bed numbers is challenging. This study proposes scale planning improvements during the feasibility assessment stage for comprehensive hospitals, analyzing cases using area determination factors and standard areas based on medical resources. Methods: The Korean Development Institute's Public Investment Management Center (KDI) identified issues in the scale determination of medical facilities in the Preliminary Feasibility Study Guidelines and investigated alternative approaches for determining the scale of a case that passed the preliminary feasibility study in 2019. The study assessed the feasibility of applying individual factors to determine not only the number of beds but also the scale at the sector and department levels. Additionally, a statistical analysis was conducted to examine the correlation between the total number of beds and various area determination factors. Results: Results suggest a strong correlation between total beds and major equipment needs, but in hospitals with <500 beds, this correlation weakens. Ward section scale is better calculated per ward type, not just total beds. Outpatient department scale depends on specialists, influencing treatment room numbers. Medical personnel play a crucial role in determining the scale of sections like rehabilitation therapy rooms, operating rooms, dialysis rooms, and overall facility scale.