Facilities Management in Healthcare
My Role as a Facilities Manager in a New Construction Project
Facilities management plays a major role in clinical operations management. It is an essential component in ensuring that all operations run smoothly. Facilities management improves facility efficiency, service quality, safety and patient satisfaction. It also ensures a clean and healthy environment.
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford is planning to construct an improved medical center. The center will increase hospital bed and space. The project is expected to solve several issues facing the hospital such as undersized facilities and safety laws mandated by the state. The project’s facilities manager is mandated to ensure the construction is done in a timely and cost effective manner.
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford is part of the Stanford University. It is a children’s hospital that specializes in the provision of medical services to expectant mothers, babies, children, and adolescents. It is among the best children’s hospital in the country.
The facilities manager is entrusted with the responsibilities of ensuring the hospital’s intended expansion is fulfilled. Space planning, bed arrangements, parking and environmental issues must be addressed in the new project. This will ensure that the hospital is capable of meeting the ever-increasing medical needs through the use of advanced medical technologies. Planning for the accommodation of medical equipment and facilities within the new building is the task of the facilities manager (Atkin & Brooks, 2009). Successful healthcare facility planning and management of this project will lead to patient satisfaction.
Healthcare institutions and providers can set up preventive maintenance and other maintenance procedures for managing their facilities. These procedures or measures can be implemented on hospital facilities and equipment in areas such as wheelchairs, suction machines, generators, electric beds, pumps, computers, vehicles, heart monitor, x-ray machines, compressors, coolers, arthroscopic equipment, sterilizing equipment, air purifiers, and respirator.
Healthcare facilities manager in healthcare is responsible for the maintenance, service of work and security to ensure that they meet the organizational needs (Atkin & Brooks, 2009). Some of the key responsibilities of a facilities manager in healthcare are: property acquisition or disposal, lease management, overseeing and planning building or renovation works, managing maintenance activities, overseeing energy cost effectiveness and efficiency, financial budgeting or forecasting and ensuring that healthcare facilities are up to standard.
In new healthcare projects, the facility's manager supervises the work of contractors. The manager ensures that new construction works are up to the specified standards. In addition, the manager ensures that the contractors deliver the desired results in terms of time, efficiency, standards and building designs. In the maintenance or renovation projects, the facilities manager ensures that the contractors perform their work within the specified time and the budget allocated to the projects.
The manager ensures that the contractors’ work is performed properly. He processes payment claims and is responsible for the allocation of materials and personnel resources to the projects. Therefore, all human, financial and material resources to the healthcare projects are handled by the facilities manager.
Facilities manager conducts periodic inspections of the healthcare institutions’ buildings to evaluate any need for repairs or building improvements. This enables the manager to assess the complexity of any repairs needed. In addition, inspections allow him to evaluate and determine the best possible solutions in the implementation of such repairs. These solutions enable the manager to improve healthcare efficiency within the facilities.
The supervision and training of staff in the maintenance department is the responsibility of facilities manager in the healthcare sector (Shah, 2007). He ensures that employees are effectively trained to implement facility improvements and maintenance. It also ensures that employees observe and implement safety procedures in compliance with mandatory safety regulations.
A facilities manager cannot operate without the proper coordination with other departments within the healthcare institution. In order for them to achieve and deliver the desired results, they ensure that they have an ongoing better relationship with other departments. They ensure that they keep abreast with the departmental service needs. It also ensures that they anticipate departmental deficiencies and problems before they arise.
In hospitals, facilities managers ensure that patients’ services needed during their stay in hospital are met and available in the required standard. Facilities manager in hospitals and clinics are responsible for building maintenance, cleaning, catering, security, environmental services and reception.
These managers are responsible for organizing and planning the work of those carrying out housekeeping and cleaning jobs. Laundry, waste and cleanliness management is one of the roles of a facilities manager in a healthcare sector. They are responsible for the overall cleanliness of the hospital or healthcare institution.
The management of air conditioning, heating and parking are the responsibilities of the facilities manager. The manager ensures that the institution has the best working environment. A good working environment is a key factor in ensuring that the patients and hospital employees are satisfied (Shah, 2007).
They are also responsible for managing office systems. Office systems in hospitals may include information technology and office equipment. They ensure that all hospital systems are working properly. They also ensure that there is enough power supply to the hospital machines for employees to work efficiently.
References
Atkin, B., & Brooks, A. (2009). Total facilities management. Chichester, U.K: Wiley-Blackwell.
Shah, S. S. (2007). Sustainable practice for the facilities manager. Oxford: Blackwell Publ.
