ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Sect 517 how broadly does 'patient care' get applied?

the Q is about when it is *required* to use hosp grade MC (as final link from EMT/J-box at ceiling) to devices in the exam rooms at a doctors office.

The site is NOT any sort of care facility... just basic physical exam rooms. No equipment on the plan calls for isolated grounds or pressurized gases (O2,etc).

Whadda think?

Thx

They have all sorts of electrical equipment in "plain vanilla exam rooms." My son had a wart on his foot, and the doctor pulled out a gadget that burned it off with an electric arc. Right there in the exam room. I think that a lot of the the exam tables are motorized, as well. Plus probably twenty other gadgets that I wouldn't begin to even know what they are that inhabit those rooms.

I don't know where the official line is between what's considered a patient care area and what isn't, but my experience and common sense tells me that a doctor's exam room is absolutely an area that should be treated as a patient care area.

[This message has been edited by SolarPowered (edited 09-01-2005).]

Look at 517.2 Definitions. The first sentance of Patient Care Area. ...wherein patients are intended to be examined OR treated.
If it is an examining room it needs a metal raceway suitable for grounding.
Alan-- Inspector

In my experience, there is a good bit of grey area on this issue. The questions we tend to look at are A:How is it engineered?, B:What do the specs call for? C:How is it zoned? and D:What does the AHJ think?

I know that if anything even smells of patient care we bid/propose hospital grade wiring. Better safe than sorry, for us and also for any potential patients and doctors in the space.

If you have the chance question the GC, Tenant, Inspector, Plan Review, etc. depending on your situation. CYA!