Hospital Locating with Passive Defense Approach

Hospitals as the strong part in providing health services to people considered the first referral place for health care in crises; so locating hospitals in a wrong place leads to both irrecoverable financial losses and human casualties. However, due to the significance of these applications in crisis, the importance of paying attention to the proper principles and criteria become more and more based on passive defense approach in locating and designing them. This study aims to determine the importance items in the locations of hospitals with the passive defense approach.
In this review study, the library method and internet searching from databases and specialized journals related to passive defense and locating of hospitals and etc. have been used.
Findings: According to the results, hospitals location should be secure and far from incompatible uses. The most significant cases in locating hospitals with a passive defense approach are as follows: safety of hospital location (avoiding of hazardous centers); access to high-speed routes and subway, proximity to densely populated areas, city scattering, proximity to green and open spaces and firefighting centers and away from faults and rivers.
The results show that an appropriate location is one of the most important factors in success of a healthcare center. Thus, in order to respond affected people in times of crisis, the hospital location should be chosen so as to minimize damages during natural and man-made disasters and to expand it and also affected people should have easy access.