Often, space-efficient designs center on a single feature: the door. Traditional doors’ swing path trajectory and approach clearances can restrict space, useability and accessibility. However, healthcare facility designers are increasingly solving these issues with interior sliding door systems like AD Systems’ ExamSlide™ for restrooms and patient room doors.

By eliminating swing arcs, a sliding door system can save up to 30 square feet of useable room per door. This helps healthcare facilities by allowing more space for patient care essentials and improving ease of movement around the room. Further, by removing approach clearances and being available in large opening sizes, ExamSlide is not only easier to move around and through but also to operate by those with mobility assistive devices. This sliding door system’s ability to improve room accessibility works in conjunction with its no-twist, easy-open hardware, which is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards.

Safeguarding patient/provider privacy, ExamSlide’s perimeter jamb gaskets and drop-down bottom seals effectively seal all four sides of the door, providing a Noise Isolation Class (NIC) rating of up to 39. In the case of a fire, these seals also help prevent smoke from entering the room for added patient safety. 

Approaching space-saving design differently, DualSwing™ provides a flexible opening using an unequal pair of swinging doors that can accommodate the movement of equipment such as wheelchairs, patient beds, medical equipment, mobile workstations and other large items. The system’s flexible opening allows everyday use without requiring the large swing clearance of an oversized, traditional swing door. When hospital staff needs to bring equipment into a room or move a patient bed out of the room, they can open the auxiliary leaf for a larger opening. The flexibility helps patient rooms efficiently use space while still allowing the utmost convenience for staff and patients alike.

DualSwing’s impact-resistant aluminum frame and large glazing options can also match neighboring sliding door systems—both inside the room and along the corridor—for a cohesive design aesthetic that marries form and function. Like ExamSlide, this unequal swing door’s gaskets provide a seal that is smoke rated to UL 1784 specifications.