The motivations for initiating a healthcare construction project vary, from expansion plans to bringing an existing facility up to code. Improvements could include logistical and operational capacity and keeping pace with current standards and practices of patient care or making a facility compatible with advanced new healthcare machinery and diagnostic equipment.

Safety on healthcare projects means keeping the construction site as clean and organized as possible. These projects almost always necessitate significant steps to separate patients and caregiving operations from the construction activity, requiring temporary partitions-often with infection control measures such as negative air pressure.

Construction professionals who specialize in healthcare frequently dedicate strict laydown areas for materials and may elect to work with just-in-time deliveries. Some professionals and projects may operate under a "nothing hit the ground" initiative. Rolling workstations and specialized trash receptacles are an important part of that but treating cleanup as a continuous process and not just an end-of-day activity is equally vital.

The importance of maintaining the integrity of mechanical and electrical systems is heightened for healthcare construction, and backup generators (with an uninterruptible power supply device UPS) are important to ensure an outage does not impact critical facility operations.

Communication between the construction manager, facilities manager, and hospital staff is key.Identifying construction areas, as well as ancillary affected areas, establishing timelines, and keeping all responsible parties informed is a critical element to success.This process should include daily updates and weekly coordination meetings.(Sache, Berlage, 2017).

Have you been to a health care facility with major construction projects in place?What were some of the safety features you noticed?

Sachse, T. and Berlage, S. (2017. March 3). Critical Conditions: Healthcare Construction Challenges and Opportunities. Healthcare Facilities Today.

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