Inclusive Healthcare Waiting Rooms: A Comparison Study for Improving the User Experience Within Built Environment

Abstract

The role of the built environment in the context of healthcare service highly impacts how human interactions take place. However, when an environment has already been built not respecting accessibility features, future actions are going to be more expensive and often ineffective. Accessibility legislation in Mexico was published after many healthcare buildings were built. Moreover, there is some evidence that government standards fail short to ensure Inclusive Design. This study aims to compare Mexican building regulations with internationally approved standards and, to analyze if they are applied to the design of an existing waiting room of a neurology outpatient unit. A comparison between international and national standards, and a physical audit of the waiting room were performed. Results suggest that even if the waiting room was built according to updated official regulations, there would be still more room for further improvement in order to satisfy stakeholders needs fully.