Improving Health Care Design with Specialty Glass

Devin Bowman, General Manager, Technical Glass Products

The design of health care facilities often needs to incorporate specialty materials to ensure the building is code-compliant and safe for operation. Like all buildings, this includes fire-rated materials like fire-resistive and fire-protective glazing. But specialty materials used in health care settings often go beyond standard fire and life safety codes to include X-Ray rooms, PET scan facilities, patient visiting areas and more.

In all these applications, glazing can play an important role in modernizing a medical center’s design to be more functional, accessible and occupant focused. For instance, X-Ray shielding glass and Gamma Ray shielding glass can support safer designs within patient-provider areas by blocking harmful radiation. Further, products like Neoceram™, a heat-resistant glass ceramic, can help design teams create more welcoming visiting and waiting spaces.

Since X-Ray glass and other specialty products are not as widely used as fire- or non-rated glazing, they may raise questions for design teams. But knowing the basic requirements of these spaces as well as which options are available for gamma and X-Ray shielding glass can help design teams plan healthcare facilities more confidently and efficiently.

Do X-Ray rooms and PET facilities need to be lead-lined?

Determining the protective requirements of an X-Ray room or PET facility depends on the specific model and type of imaging equipment, its orientation relative to each wall segment, primary and secondary scatter areas, frequency of use as well as other requirements by location. This makes it important to consult with both experts in building codes and a Radiation Protection Advisor (RPA) to ensure all proper precautionary measures have been accounted for.

Depending on the specifics of a project, walls and floors can be made with a variety of materials, so long as they have an equal or greater protective value to lead. For designs that utilize transparent glazing to aid in patient monitoring, the glazing, whether it is used in doors, vision lites or windows, needs to contain a minimum percentage of lead as determined by codes and RPAs.

X-ray shielding glass from Technical Glass Products (TGP) is available with over 60 percent heavy metal oxide content, including 55 percent lead oxide in various thicknesses—from 7-millimeter (mm) to 20mm, depending on the usage requirements. This X-ray glass can be specified as either impact-rated or non-impact-rated to meet functional requirements of a radiology lab. X-Ray shielding glass from TGP offers quality, optical-grade transparency that will last when maintained and cleaned properly.

Are there other options for Gamma-Ray shielding glass in health care applications? 

Radiology labs are not the only spaces that may require lead-lined materials to protect occupants from harmful radiation. PET facilities need special protective materials throughout their design, which may include lead glass, to shield against Gamma Rays.

While compositionally similar to X-Ray glass, Gamma-Ray shielding glazing has a higher percentage of heavy metals. For example, Pro-GR lead shielding glass from TGP has a lead oxide content of roughly 70 percent. This is equivalent to ultra-high lead content block glass used for nuclear power facilities. Pro-GR glass has a radiation shielding capability higher than that of conventional LX-57B X-Ray shielding glass.

Because the level of protection required for a PET scan facility depends on dose transmission factors, activity and decay factors and more, it is a best practice for design teams to work with specialists to determine which thickness of radiation shielding glass is most appropriate for a given application.

Specialty glazing goes beyond Gamma and X-ray shielding glass

X-ray glass, fire-rated glass and other specialty glazing can help medical centers achieve code-compliance and best-practice recommendations. These specialty materials can also support patient comfort and well-being. Increasingly, health care facility design teams are incorporating elements intended to improve the patient and visitor experience by mimicking cozier, less institutional interiors.

Included under the umbrella term “trauma-informed design,” this approach can include aspects of biophilia, daylighting and spaces that look like luxury hospitality environments rather than medical centers. Design considerations for this type of interior can range from furniture choice to wall paneling material and may even include fireplaces. In these instances, glazing products like heat-resistant glass ceramic can help keep occupants safe while also improving the overall design aesthetic of waiting rooms and visiting areas.

TGP’s Neoceram is a transparent, low-expansion glass-ceramic that can support hearth designs. It is available in a wide array of glass configurations, including flat, single bent, double bent and curved. This specialty glazing can help design teams prioritize features meant to make medical visits more comfortable.

Specialty glazing opens possibilities within health care settings

As medical systems look to consolidate infrastructure to combat rising inflation, improve margins and foster positive patient experience, specialty glazing will likely become more commonly used in health care projects. This is true of rooms that require Gamma-Ray and X-ray shielding glass as well as applications that must achieve code-driven standards for fire and life safety, including areas where multiple protections overlap.

For example, impact ratings may be necessary for glazing within behavioral health facilities. These assemblies should pass AAMA 501.8 standard, which simulates a patient running into a window at full speed to determine if the window system can withstand the impact. Glazing products and systems that have fire and security ratings can solve challenges in these applications. Specialty glazing will help building professionals continue to refine medical center interiors to optimize functionality and prioritize well-being without compromising building safety.

Once design teams understand the minimum requirements for these applications, they can contact specialty glazing manufacturers to better understand how impact-rated, fire-rated, heat-resistant and X-ray shielding glass products can be most effectively used within the built environment.