The nurse station is where most of the work on a hospital unit or care home floor is coordinated. Staff chart, take calls, check monitors, talk to families and keep an eye on patients from it, around the clock. Its millwork has to support all of that, stand up to constant cleaning and the knocks of carts and beds, and meet the facility’s infection control rules. Here is what to settle before a nurse station is drawn.
Start with how the unit works
- Central or decentralized: one main station, or smaller charting alcoves spread along the corridor closer to patient rooms, or both. The model of care decides this, not the millwork.
- Who uses it: how many nurses, clerks, physicians and other staff work there at the busiest time, and what each needs: a full workstation, a stand-up charting spot, or a place to put down a tablet.
- What happens there: charting, phone and video calls, monitoring, handover, visitor questions, and sometimes specimen or supply handling.
- What happens elsewhere: medication preparation, clean and soiled supplies and staff breaks usually belong in their own rooms, which keeps the station smaller and easier to clean.
Sightlines and privacy
Staff need to see patient room doors, the corridor and the unit entrance from where they sit, so counter heights, screens and upper elements should not block the view. At the same time, patient information on monitors and paper should not be visible to visitors. Common answers are a raised transaction counter on the visitor side that hides the work surface, monitors angled away from public areas, and privacy filters. Conversations about patients carry, so absorptive wall and ceiling finishes around the station help both privacy and noise for patients trying to rest.
Work surfaces and technology
- Charting surfaces at seated and standing heights, or height-adjustable sections, since staff move between quick standing entries and longer seated work.
- Equipment: monitors, central monitoring displays, phones, printers, label printers, scanners and sometimes a pneumatic tube station. List it all before the station is drawn.
- Power and data at each position, with cable management so cords do not collect dust or hang where they get caught. Plan access panels so IT staff can reach cables without dismantling the millwork.
- Task lighting for paperwork that does not glare on screens, and a lower lighting level for night shifts.
The visitor counter
Where the station serves visitors, treat that counter as a service counter. In Ontario, new service counters fall under the province’s Design of Public Spaces Standards, so the counter needs a section usable by a person seated in a mobility aid; see our cash wrap guide for what that involves. The rule covers the visitor side; a matching lower section on the staff side is good practice, so staff can serve a seated visitor face to face. Confirm with the architect how the rules apply to the station. A durable top such as solid surface takes the leaning, bags and cleaning that a transaction counter gets.
Infection control and cleanable surfaces
In Ontario, the Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee’s environmental cleaning best practices set the tone: “If you can’t clean it, don’t buy it.” They say surfaces, finishes and furnishings shall be cleanable, able to withstand repeated cleaning, and compatible with the facility’s detergents and disinfectants. They also advise avoiding materials that hold moisture, note that seams may harbour microorganisms, and say wood should be avoided in care areas, particularly for immunocompromised patients. Items that are damaged and can no longer be cleaned have to be repaired, replaced or taken out of clinical areas.
For a nurse station, that usually means:
- Non-porous tops such as solid surface or compact laminate, with as few seams as possible and integrated or coved backsplashes where liquids are present.
- High-pressure laminate on cabinets and panels, with durable edges applied with a moisture-resistant adhesive such as PUR; see laminate grades and edgebanding.
- Simple shapes, without ledges and crevices that collect dust, and hardware that is easy to wipe.
- Every surface checked against the disinfectants the facility actually uses; see our guide to caring for millwork surfaces.
Where wood or wood veneer is wanted for warmth, keep it to areas the infection control team agrees are suitable, such as public-facing panels outside care areas, and use a finish they approve. The facility’s infection prevention and control (IPAC) team should sign off on materials before the shop drawings are approved.
Durability
Carts, beds, wheelchairs and floor cleaning machines hit nurse stations all day. Protect corners with guards, use kick plates or resilient bases at floor level, and consider bumper rails on exposed faces. Solid surface tops and corners can be repaired on site if they are chipped. Drawers that are opened constantly need full-extension slides rated for the load; see our cabinet hardware guide.
Storage
Keep storage at the station to what is used there: forms, a small stock of supplies, and lockable drawers for staff personal items. Closed storage is easier to keep clean than open shelving. Patient records and anything confidential need locks.
Work in occupied units
Many nurse station projects are renovations in units that stay open. CSA Z317.13 sets out infection control during construction, renovation and maintenance of health care facilities, and the facility’s team, including IPAC, carries out an infection control risk assessment for each job and sets controls such as hoarding, negative pressure and dust control, often through a construction permit that must be in place before work starts. Building and finishing as much as possible in the shop, delivering pre-assembled sections, and installing in planned phases shortens the time trades spend in the unit. Agree the phasing with the facility and the GC early. See our field measuring guide for getting accurate dimensions in an occupied space.
What to put in the specification
- Station model and number of positions, seated and standing.
- Equipment list, with power, data and access requirements.
- Visitor counter, including the accessible section.
- Top, panel and edge materials, and the disinfectants they must resist.
- Corner, edge and base protection.
- Storage and locks.
- Phasing and infection control requirements for work in an occupied unit.
Healthcare millwork at DNS
We build institutional and healthcare millwork in our Vaughan plant, including solid surface tops and transaction counters. Our drafting team issues shop drawings for review before production, which gives the clinical, IPAC and IT teams one set of drawings to check. See healthcare and veterinary millwork and institutional millwork, or send us your drawings.
Frequently asked questions
What materials are best for nurse station counters?
Non-porous, cleanable materials compatible with the facility’s disinfectants, such as solid surface or compact laminate for tops and high-pressure laminate with sealed edges for cabinets. Ontario’s PIDAC guidance advises avoiding materials that hold moisture and avoiding wood in care areas.
Can wood be used at a nurse station?
Ontario’s PIDAC environmental cleaning guidance says wood should be avoided in care areas, particularly for immunocompromised patients. Where wood is wanted for warmth, limit it to areas the facility’s infection control team accepts, with a finish they approve.
Does a nurse station need an accessible counter?
Where the station serves visitors, treat that counter as a service counter: in Ontario, new service counters fall under the Design of Public Spaces Standards and need a section usable by a person seated in a mobility aid. A matching lower section on the staff side is good practice. Confirm with the architect how the rules apply.
How do you keep patient information private at a nurse station?
A raised transaction counter on the visitor side, monitors angled away from public areas, privacy filters, and absorptive finishes around the station so conversations do not carry.
How are nurse stations renovated in an open unit?
The facility assesses the infection control risk and sets controls such as hoarding and dust control, following CSA Z317.13. Building and finishing in the shop, delivering pre-assembled sections and installing in phases shortens the time trades spend in the unit.