In August of this year, the ANSI/TIA-1179 Standard was ratified for the Structured Cabling infrastructure of the Hospital Industry (Clinics, Hospitals, etc.).
In an article published in the specialized magazine Cabling Installation & Maintenance, from early December 2010, some details are made known that are important to take into account for those of us who are involved in Information Technologies in one way or another, and these are the indications of this standard with respect to Telecommunications Spaces and Cabling Systems.
Regarding Spaces, the TIA-1179 Standard recommends Equipment Rooms (ER) and Telecommunications Rooms (TR) that consider a 100% growth, considering that currently there are multiple services that rely on the TCP/IP Platform and that use the Physical Platform of Structured cabling.
Regarding Work Areas (WA), it considers 11 WA subgroups: Patient Services, Operating Rooms, Procedure/Operative, Emergency, Outpatient Care, Gynecology, Diagnosis and Treatment, Medical Care, Support Services, Facilities, Operations, and Urgent Care. Accordingly, WAs are established as having low, medium, and high point density, such that a low-density WA requires 2 to 6 outlets, a medium-density WA requires 6 to 12 outlets, and a high-density WA requires 14 or more outlets.
Regarding cabling routes, it is recommended to consider redundancy criteria, as well as the use of pre-connectorized fiber optic cables, and to use horizontal cabling solutions with Consolidation Point (CP), or Multi-user (MUTO).
For more information about this Standard: http://www.tiaonline.org/news_events/press_room/press_releases/2010/PR-811_TIA_Issues_New_Healthcare_Facilities_Infrastructur.cfm