Hospital beds will have to expand with patient's growing waistbands, experts warned today. Engineers were told to consider the expanding weight and height of Irish men and women when designing new healthcare facilities.
With 13 per cent of adults classified as obese, and the figure rising every year, international studies show bigger and longer hospital beds are needed.
Doug Wignall, of US engineering, architectural and consulting firm HDR, said it was his experience that as the US population increases physically in size, modifications in equipment design will be required.
He told delegates at Engineers Ireland Annual Conference - Engineering Action in Croke Park, that having more than 30 per cent of adults stateside obese has impacted on the length of a typical hospital bed - which has increased from six feet eight inches to a lengthy seven feet six inches.
The increase in bed length has had a knock-on effect on spatial areas in the design of new patient buildings. Resent research revealed that a common gene variant found in 16 per cent of the population could be largely responsible for exploding rates of obesity.
"The hospital of the 1960s would be unrecognisable to many of today's healthcare professionals and patients who take a lot of our modern day technology for granted," said Kevin Kernan, Director General of Engineers Ireland.
"Imagine 40 years ago there was no ultrasound or CT scans for example, which are used constantly in the average day of an Irish hospital.
"What we've heard today from our invited speakers would suggest that advances in bioengineering and technology combined with the changing population trends are going to affect our colleagues in construction, demonstrating the need for joined up planning when it comes to providing the healthcare facilities for 21st century Ireland."
The Engineers Ireland conference continues at Croke Park tomorrow with dedicated sessions on constructing modern Ireland focusing on tall buildings technology; future options for the Irish electricity industry, Ireland's competitiveness in the global economy and a biomedical session that will feature research into ageing and the ethics of clinical trials.