Healthcare Acquired Infections, or HAIs, can result in up to $147 Billion worth of medical expenses per year, with surgical site infections accounting for approximately 33% of these HAI’s. To combat this statistic, Hospitals are doing everything they can to eliminate the causes of these infections by not only performing a “terminal” cleaning at the … Read more
Is your building properly ventilated? What is proper ventilation? How do you know if you have it? These may not be the burning questions you ask yourself when evaluating student performance, but if your key business is education, perhaps they should be at the top of your list. Some facilities personnel see ventilation as an … Read more
The 2018 edition of the FGI Guidelines are available and ready for use. The Pennsylvania Department of Health is still allowing the option to have new projects reviewed under either the 2014 or 2018 editions through October. After November 1, 2018, however, all new projects submitted to PA DOH for approval will be reviewed under … Read more
When undertaking a renovation or new construction project as an owner do you know what questions to ask regarding the design of the MEP/FP systems? What is different about this project that was not on the last one that no one was expecting? The advantage of an experienced MEP engineer is that we have seen … Read more
For many years now, the design community has been laser-focused on creating ‘green’ buildings that use less energy and have a smaller impact on their surrounding environments. That is until recently. Due to growing concern amongst the healthcare community that Americans are spending too much of their days indoors coupled with the scientific community’s increasing … Read more
Your project has gone through a comprehensive planning and design process to ensure that the project design objectives and goals are fully captured in the documents. You are ready to start work. Now what? The successful implementation of your project requires one more, extremely important step, selecting the right construction partner. How can you do … Read more
Managing the construction of new facilities or renovation and maintenance of existing facilities with multiple design and construction firms can be a daunting task even for the most experienced owner. One way to help eliminate miscommunication and set expectations of all project stakeholders is to have written design and construction standards. If you own, operate … Read more
When used as an adjective, “hybrid” is defined as something “of mixed character, composed of mixed parts”. In today’s society, the term is regularly used to describe cars, genetically modified plants, dog breeds, or any combination of two distinct styles. In the healthcare industry, the word hybrid is generally used to describe a mixture of … Read more
The severity of recent natural disasters across the nation, along with the Emergency Preparedness Requirements for Medicare and Medicaid Participating Providers and Suppliers issued by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in 2016, has made emergency preparedness a point of emphasis for healthcare facility managers across the nation. On November 15, 2017, participating … Read more
Does this question sound familiar? Every facility manager has probably muttered, or at least thought, this question at some point. With surgeons performing longer and more complex surgeries, requests for colder operating room temperatures has increased and it is not uncommon for surgeons to request room conditions that are outside of “normal” parameters. The question … Read more
Fall is almost here and winter isn’t too far behind, so let’s make sure your building and wallet is ready for it! It’s important to understand how your monthly energy use is broken down by your building systems. Below represents a pretty typical breakdown for a building: System Type % of Total Energy Consumption HVAC … Read more
The U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) Chapter 800 related to handling of hazardous drugs in healthcare settings will officially take effect on December 1, 2019. Chapter 800 will supersede the current Chapter 797 requirements for compounding of hazardous drugs. Several of the requirements in Chapter 800 may prove challenging to meet for facilities with aging mechanical infrastructures. … Read more
Since 2009, the lighting industry has made remarkable improvements in LED technology for exterior lighting. Manufacturers have been able to significantly increase light output, improve the color quality and reduce electrical usage all while lowering upfront costs. These advancements have made upgrading to exterior lighting to LED sources a viable way to create a positive, … Read more
When designing a building, there are some things that are pretty straightforward: plumbing fixtures need water supply and drain; you need lighting to see; power for that lighting and other equipment; and you may also want some telecommunications and life safety/security systems – the things that Make Buildings Work. The fixture types that you choose … Read more
Building Information Modeling (BIM) has rapidly changed the construction industry in recent years. One of the most powerful uses of BIM is the ability to integrate models from the architect, structural engineer, MEP engineers and others to discover and resolve potential conflicts in constructability before the project moves into construction. This allows the design team … Read more
Building owners are becoming more and more concerned about their building’s energy usage. Reducing the amount of energy a building uses can both help reduce annual costs for the building owner and reduce the building’s environmental impact. The largest piece of the pie for a typical commercial building’s energy is used by the heating, ventilation, … Read more
Hospitals are among the most challenging buildings to design, construct, and maintain. One of the most distinctive and code-heavy aspects of hospitals is that power supplied to the building must be split into separate “branches” of power. Sorting through applicable codes to determine what is allowed on each branch, however, can get tricky. In typical … Read more
When designing plumbing systems in psychiatric facilities certain considerations must be made that differ from typical plumbing design. For an inpatient facility, the first step is to refer to the most recent edition of the Facility Guidelines Institute (FGI) Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospitals. Within these guidelines is a section dedicated to the … Read more
If you are responsible for archival storage you may find yourself faced with a mountain of questions and a shortage of answers. Historical items that we deem most valuable are often the most fragile and susceptible to deterioration over time. Items such as books, video, film, paintings, furniture, and metals are all sensitive to the … Read more
Over the past ten years, LED products have taken the lighting world by storm. They are flooding the market, but not all of them stack up. This is true especially when it comes to their ability to mitigate electromagnetic interference. Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) is often referred to as ‘static’. It is a disturbance to an … Read more
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