title: The role of information and communication technology in planning the digital hospital.
abstract: Hospital structure is undergoing radical changes, forced by contemporary market trends, new demands from different stakeholders and a common interest in innovation. Health care expenditure around the globe continues to rise at unsustainable levels. In this context efficiency and optimization become the keywords of the process aimed at lowering costs and increasing the quality of care services. Efficiency and optimization leads to innovation, and innovation in the contemporary age leads to the power of information and communication technology (ICT). This paper discusses how ICT became the new shaping tool for hospital environments and highlights one of the best examples of its implementation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Architecture, TU Delft, Delft, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lacanna
mesh_terms: D003201:Computers; D006749:Hospital Design and Construction; D006751:Hospital Information Systems; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000295:instrumentation; D010934:Planning Techniques