Resumo Neste trabalho buscou-se refletir sobre a configuração espacial de unidades de urgência e emergência por meio da avaliação de seis destas unidades situadas em hospitais públicos da Grande Florianópolis, SC. A metodologia incluiu: revisão de literatura, visitas exploratórias e seis estudos de caso. Nos estudos de caso, foi aplicado o método Walkthrough por meio de dois amplos checklists, sendo o primeiro referente a aspectos mínimos necessários ao funcionamento da unidade e dos ambientes, e o segundo relativo à sua humanização. Os checklists totalizavam aproximadamente 500 itens avaliados, abrangendo a relação entre os usuários e o ambiente hospitalar, sua percepção e comportamento ambiental. Dentre os resultados constatados destacaram-se: subdimensionamento de ambientes, sobreposição de usos, inadequação do leiaute às atividades realizadas, problemas de acessibilidade, ausência de alguns ambientes necessários ao local e problemas de manutenção. O artigo reflete ainda sobre algumas possíveis soluções para esses problemas, especialmente aquelas referentes à atuação dos arquitetos e ao processo de revisão da Resolução RDC 50/2002.

Abstract The aim of this paper is to reflect on the spatial configuration of urgency and emergency units through the evaluation of six of them situated in public hospitals in the metropolitan area of Florianópolis, SC, Brazil. The methodology includes: literature review, exploratory visits and six case studies. In the case studies, the Walkthrough Analysis was applied via two comprehensive checklists, the first one concerning the minimum aspects necessary to the functioning of the unit and its environment, and the second one concerning its environmental human scale. The two checklists totalled nearly 500 evaluated items, covering the relationship between users and the hospital setting, their environmental perception and behaviour. The results highlighted: undersized environments, overlapping of uses, inadequacy of the layout to the activities carried out, accessibility problems, lack of certain necessary environments and maintenance problems. The article also discusses possible solutions to these problems, especially those related to the architect's performance and to RDC 50/2002 reviewing process.

Irradiation of blood components with ionizing radiation generated by a specific device is recommended to prevent transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease. However, a lin- ear accelerator can also be used in the absence of such a device, which is the case of the blood bank facility studied herein. In order to evaluate the quality of the irradiated packed red blood cells, this study aimed to determine whether the procedure currently employed in the facility is effective in inhibiting the proliferation of T lymphocytes without damaging blood components. The proliferation of T lymphocytes, plasma potassium levels, and the degree of hemolysis were evaluated and compared to blood bags that received no irradiation. Packed red blood cell bags were irradiated at a dose of 25 Gy in a linear accelerator. For this purpose, a container was designed to hold the bags and to ensure even distribution of irradiation as evaluated by computed tomography and dose-volume histogram. Irradiation was observed to inhibit the proliferation of lymphocytes. The percentage of hemolysis in irradiated bags was slightly higher than in non-irradiated bags (p-value >0.05), but it was always less than 0.4% of the red cell mass. Although potassium increased in both groups, it was more pronounced in irradiated red blood cells, especially after seven days of storage, with a linear increase over storage time. The findings showed that, at an appropriate dosage and under validated conditions, the irradiation of packed red blood cells in a linear accelerator is effective, inhibiting lymphocyte proliferation but without compromising the viability of the red cells.