Atefeh Mohammadpour

Facilities Management Interaction with Healthcare Delivery Process

The healthcare industry is growing increasingly complex and providing a safe healthcare setting has become challenging for many healthcare facility managers. Most facility information is not linked to the healthcare delivery process, making it difficult to identify interactions and overlaps that may have critical implications for the smooth operation of the healthcare delivery process and patient safety. This inhibits the potential to capture real–time information that can facilitate timely interventions when hazardous situations develop. The impact of using real-time facilities information to ensure efficient healthcare operations has not been adequately studied. This paper is focused on an investigation of specific links and overlaps between facilities information and the healthcare delivery process. An understanding of the interactions between these two facets of healthcare delivery provides the healthcare industry a unique opportunity to enhance real-time decision-making thereby avoiding costly disruptions to the healthcare delivery process. The study presented in this paper involved a review of existing guidelines and standards for healthcare facilities management, interviews with key healthcare practitioners in a major hospital, and cognitive walkthroughs with the facilities management personnel. Based on the information obtained and the identification of typical facility failures, use cases were developed to determine synergies between facilities management and the healthcare delivery process, and to assess the potential for improvements from a patient safety perspective. The paper makes recommendations for improved use of real-time facilities information to support the healthcare delivery process.

Using Building Energy Simulation and Geospatial Analysis to Determine Building and Transportation Related Energy Use

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), building and transportation sectors account for approximately 75% of CO₂ emissions. Given the magnitude of this statistic, many studies have been directed towards the issue of energy use and carbon emissions of the built environment. Most of these studies however, have focused only on either buildings or transportation systems. To analyze the dynamics of energy use associated with buildings and transportation systems, it is essential to explore the interactions between these two sectors in a single comprehensive model. This paper develops a network infrastructure model to determine the transportation energy intensity of a building as well as building energy consumption based on the residents’ lifestyle. The proposed model is developed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) to identify the current trends in energy use associated with people behavior and infrastructure (buildings and transportation networks). BIM is used as a life cycle inventory to model and collect building-related information and material quantities, and GIS is used to define geo-referenced locations, storing attribute data, and displaying data on maps. The main input to the model would be characteristics of buildings and transportation networks, and socioeconomic data (population dynamics) collected from a survey. The model then generates the energy and carbon implications of the network in the form of a map.

Measuring End-User Satisfaction in the Design of Building Projects Using Eye- Tracking Technology

The importance of end-user participation in the design process of building and construction projects has been recognized and addressed by a number of researchers and practitioners. The main goal is to ensure that the project outcome meets the facility users’ needs. In order to understand their needs, a variety of approaches (e.g. focus groups, workshops, and questionnaires) for the building end-users participation in the design process have been presented in the literature. Despite the contributions and practical features of these methods, they require a significant amount of time and effort to conduct and interpret the participants’ responses. To overcome this limitation, this paper investigates the use of eye-tracking technology to measure and analyze end-user satisfaction. This study is carried out to test the hypothesis that the users’ satisfaction of design variations is related to their visual attention. In other words, design alternatives with high level of users’ satisfaction attract more attention. An experiment using four alternatives for the design of a facade is performed to test the effectiveness of eye-tracking technology. The design alternatives are developed and displayed in a virtual 3D environment. Participants are asked to rate their level of satisfaction with each alternative, while their interaction with the virtual models is recorded using eye-tracking. The results of the experiment are also demonstrated to domain experts to get a better understanding of the technology’s potential and challenges.

Impact Analysis of Facility Failures on Healthcare Delivery Process: Use Case-Driven Approach

AbstractThe healthcare industry is growing in complexity, and providing a safe healthcare setting increases the challenges for many healthcare facility managers. Most facility information is not linked to the healthcare delivery process, making it difficult to identify interactions and overlaps that may have critical implications for the smooth operation of the healthcare delivery process and patient safety. This paper focused on an impact analysis of facility failures on the healthcare delivery process and involved a combination of research methods including a case study, interviews with key healthcare practitioners as part of a case study in a major hospital, and cognitive walk-throughs with domain experts. The interactions of facility information with the healthcare delivery process helped to identify critical facility failures through planned and unplanned safety events. Use cases, use-case diagrams, scenario interaction diagrams, and failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) were developed to learn an...

Cross Case Energy Simulation Modeling Analysis in Healthcare Facilities Retrofit

Healthcare is one of the most complex and energy intensive industries in the United States. Healthcare facilities consume 836 trillion BTUs, spending more than

Integrated Framework for Patient Safety and Energy Efficiency in Healthcare Facilities Retrofit Projects

8.8 billion, 1 to 3 percent of the operating cost, and 15 percent of their annual profits on energy each year. Retrofitting healthcare facilities, from a small renovation to building a new department, is considered an important approach to overcoming these challenges and provides an opportunity to implement energy conservation measures. This paper focuses on the energy consumption of three retrofit projects in three major hospitals and compares energy consumption before and after the retrofit. Based on the information collected from the Facility Departments, simulation models for the selected retrofit projects, were developed and EnergyPlus building energy simulation program was used to model the facilities. Monthly and annual energy simulation modeling results, before and after the retrofit, are compared and analyzed to identify key factors and opportunities for saving energy in existing healthcare facilities.

Integrating building and transportation energy use to design a comprehensive greenhouse gas mitigation strategy

There is a growing focus on enhancing energy efficiency in healthcare facilities, many of which are decades old. Since replacement of all aging healthcare facilities is not economically feasible, the retrofitting of these facilities is an appropriate path, which also provides an opportunity to incorporate energy efficiency measures. In undertaking energy efficiency retrofits, it is vital that the safety of the patients in these facilities is maintained or enhanced. However, the interactions between patient safety and energy efficiency have not been adequately addressed to realize the full benefits of retrofitting healthcare facilities. To address this, an innovative integrated framework, the Patient Safety and Energy Efficiency (PATSiE) framework, was developed to simultaneously enhance patient safety and energy efficiency. The framework includes a step-by-step procedure for enhancing both patient safety and energy efficiency. It provides a structured overview of the different stages involved in retrofitting healthcare facilities and improves understanding of the intricacies associated with integrating patient safety improvements with energy efficiency enhancements. Evaluation of the PATSiE framework was conducted through focus groups with the key stakeholders in two case study healthcare facilities. The feedback from these stakeholders was generally positive, as they considered the framework useful and applicable to retrofit projects in the healthcare industry.