Tanyel Bulbul

Case Analysis to Identify Information Links between Facility Management and Healthcare Delivery Information in a Hospital Setting

AbstractEffective facility management is a critical aspect of ensuring an adequate physical environment to administer care. Maintaining the environment is complicated with numerous critical systems because of occupants with compromised immune systems, and the need to maintain the systems with minimal effect on clinical operations. The complexity and importance of tasks that facility managers deal with require them to have adequate, up-to-date, and easily accessible information. This paper presents a case study that analyzes the impact of facility management on healthcare delivery. The work was completed in the preliminary stages of a research initiative for developing a lifecycle information management system to support facility management within healthcare. A case concerning mechanical systems and critical failures in a healthcare setting is analyzed to identify the types of information needed to adequately perform maintenance tasks. The information is then analyzed for origin along the lifecycle of the ...

Building Collaborative Construction Skills through BIM-integrated Learning Environment

The integration of technology and team collaboration is increasingly becoming a critical juncture in construction education of the work environment. Through literature review and interviews, the authors find that students equipped with knowledge of BIM technology is not the ultimate goal, while the collaborative process of using BIM to solve practical construction problems emerges as key to individuals entering the industry. However, a majority of BIM-relevant courses have been taught as technology training without the context of a collaborative learning environment, while the industry values training in collaboration as a paramount skill in possible employees. To fill this gap, the authors assume that the collaborative construction skills can be obtained through training in higher education of construction. This work applies a case study analysis of one of Virginia Tech’s Department of Building Construction courses, the Integrated Construction Studio (ICS), to demonstrate how the BIM process help students to build their collaboration skills in 4Cs: Common goals, Communication, Coordination, and Cooperation. This work then uses a survey analysis to validate the assumptions, and results from statistical analysis reinforce findings from the case study and also suggest some noteworthy observations for the educational integration of technology and collaboration in the industry.

A Case Study of Embedding Real Time Infrastructure Sensor Data to BIM

One of the premises of Building Information Modeling (BIM) is becoming a repository for all building related data throughout its lifecycle. However, the use of current models developed in existing BIM based software rarely go beyond the construction phase. During a facility’s management, these models are treated as static information sources that contain the as-built data. Making BIM based models dynamic, to represent the real time building information, introduces various opportunities for facility managers to get the accurate information about the state of various systems. In this paper, we will introduce an approach used to connect the sensor data to the IFC-based BIM model. We will use a geothermal bridge deck deicing system, which involves embedded sensors as a case study. The real time monitoring of these sensor data is crucial for assessing the state of the bridge deck under different climate conditions. First, we will describe our model in Revit and the data we collected from temperature sensors. These sensor data will be subsequently fused into the IFC-based BIM model and processed for visualization through the development of new add-ins in Revit. Finally all the sensor data should be easily monitored in our BIM model for condition assessment.

Potential Application of BIM in Cost-benefit Analysis of Demolition Waste Management

Building information modeling (BIM) has been recently recognized as a powerful tool among the construction stakeholders. The BIM technology not only enables decision makers access reliable and accurate information but also facilitates project management processes during bidding, pre-construction, construction, and post-construction. However, possible application of BIM technology are less considered for the purpose of the end-of-life operations such as cost-benefit analysis of demolition waste management. This study aims to identify potential application of BIM in demolition waste management in order for decision makers to base their decisions on reliable and accurate information. For this purpose, three most common demolition waste management alternatives are proposed and the cost-benefit analysis is formulated based on building-related and constant variables. The variables are further categorized based on their data sources into four categories including drawings & on-site survey, literature, official statistics & regulations, and real-life data from survey. Finally a case study of one-story wood-frame residential building is simulated in order to demonstrate the potential application of BIM in supporting costbenefit analysis of demolition waste management. The result of this study can be used as the backbone for developing a BIM-based waste management tool.

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.

A System of Systems Approach to Intelligent Construction Systems

There is a growing realization that the construction project delivery process can be significantly improved through the adoption of intelligent construction systems. These systems seek to embed intelligence in the construction process such that, it is easier to track and make informed decisions at all stages of the process. In adopting the concept of Intelligent Construction, it is imperative that a System of Systems (SoS) approach is explored so as to maximize the synergies inherent in the underlying sub-systems. This paper describes the adoption of a SoS approach to Intelligent Construction Systems (IConS). A methodology that includes comprehensive literature review and case study analysis is followed to identify the characteristics of the SoS approach and to learn from its applications in other domains. In the light of this analysis, a general SoS framework has been developed for IConS. For the findings, five main characteristics of SoS are identified. These characteristics are later mapped to the properties of the AEC domain to reveal that the AEC domain is inherently complex and can be considered to comprise SoSs.

Gap Analysis on the Ability of Guidelines and Standards to Support the Performance of Healthcare Facilities

AbstractThe condition of the physical environment within healthcare facilities has a large impact on the quality of care, recovery time, and patient satisfaction. To maintain and ensure adequate operation of the physical environment, facility management must maintain a state of continuous compliance and constant readiness. This requires the facility management personnel to have a full understanding of the regulatory standards and guidelines that address the performance of a healthcare facility. This paper discusses an analysis of the major healthcare standards and guidelines that the American Society of Healthcare Engineers suggests facility management groups need to be familiar with. A gap analysis is performed to identify gaps between the design and construction guidelines and their ability to support healthcare facility operation and performance standards. Finally, a case example is used to discuss how the standards and regulations can be incorporated into a healthcare facility information framework to...

Evaluating the Role of Healthcare Facility Information on Health Information Technology Initiatives from a Patient Safety Perspective

Patient safety is a principal factor in healthcare facility operations and maintenance (O&M). Ongoing initiatives to help track patient safety information and record incidents and close calls include Common Formats and International Classification for Patient Safety (ICPS). Both efforts aim to develop ontologies to support healthcare providers to collect and submit standardized information regarding patient safety events. Aggregating this information is crucial for pattern analysis, learning, and trending. The purpose of this paper is to analyze these existing efforts to see how much facility and facility management information is covered in the existing frameworks and how they can interface with new systems development. This analysis uses documented cases from literature on healthcare associated infections, inputs the data from the cases into the information categories of Common Formats and ICPS, and identifies gaps and overlaps between these existing systems and facility information. With this analysis, connections to these efforts are identified that serve as a leverage for showing the role of healthcare facility information for assessing and preventing risky conditions. Future work will use these findings and the supported ontology to connect patient safety information to a building model for supporting facility operations and maintenance. The aim is generating and interpreting high-level information to provide effective and efficient patient safety in a healthcare environment.

A Case Study of BIM-Based Model Adaptation for Healthcare Facility Management—Information Needs Analysis

Facility management (FM) is responsible from the proper functioning of building systems, such as mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection. The increased level of complexity in building systems means more work for the owner’s FM personnel. The FM work has unique challenges for finding the right resources of information to detect faulty systems and deficient pieces of equipment. This paper is focused on how Building Information Modeling (BIM) can support FM operations for buildings with more complex systems and strict operation and maintenance requirements, such as healthcare facilities. In order to get a better understanding of the dynamic environment in which the FM operates, a period of work shadowing has been arranged with a healthcare building owner. Case narratives are formed as an outcome of the shadowing experience and process models are created to identify the basic workflows. These workflows include the interactions, decision points, documents and information exchange among the owner’s personnel. Based on these process models, information needs have been discussed in order to extend the functionality of BIM and add value to FM personnel’s operation and maintenance activities.

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...