An Ultimate Guide To Hire Contractors For Your Healthcare Construction
Over the years, we’ve seen the design and construction of healthcare facilities change because of changes in technology, medical advances, and rules and regulations. Today, care providers are switching from a volume-based care model to a value-based one, which requires healthcare design and construction to support patient outcomes and population health management.
Because of this change, the idea behind building healthcare in the private sector has changed. Healthcare facilities no longer aim to stay full and reach the highest level of care. Small and medium-sized clinics are being placed and set up in a way that helps people and helps them live healthier lives. Today, facilities must provide effective care that keeps patients out of hospitals and gets them healthy as quickly as possible.
What Makes A Healthcare-Building Project Successful?
Due to the many changes in healthcare construction, the way to plan a successful project has changed. This is true whether you are building a new hospital, renovating an existing one, or building a clinic. Several key elements that improve patient outcomes are part of a robust and modern approach to building healthcare facilities.
- Helping with core care tasks and goals
- Evidence-based design
- A long-term plan to help your building through its whole life.
- Innovation, working together and adding value
- Sustainability
Contractors who have worked on healthcare buildings know how many details are needed to plan and carry out a project well, so they have made their checklists. We’ve looked at a few of them and summed up some of the most critical steps.
Construction Companies Should Investigate, Plan, Communicate, And Keep An Eye On The Document
Your construction team should do some preliminary research before getting to work. This will involve going to the site to check the location of electrical utilities, plumbing, and other physical features.
Also, it’s essential to keep an eye out for things specific to the project, like lead paint, asbestos, or other dangerous materials. While on-site, the contractor should meet with the hospital’s infection control team, which comprises people from nursing, hospital administration, environmental services, information technology, and public safety. This will help the contractor and the hospital’s infection control team get along well.
One goal of these meetings is to ensure that infection control rules are followed. Another goal is to improve the patient experience by reducing the problems that usually come with construction, such as noise, vibration, changes to traffic routes, and temporary closures.
People Who Work In Construction Should Plan
Once you have enough information about the facility and know the critical hospital staff, it’s time to plan. The construction and hospital teams should get together to assess infection control risk. This will cover everything from the scope and length of the project to air monitoring, filtration plans and procedures, personal protection equipment, types of temporary walls, daily documentation, and final cleaning.
The interim life safety plan (ILSP) is another essential document for planning. The contractor should write it and send it to the facility for approval. An ILSP includes:
- Things like emergency exits.
- The ratings of walls now and in the future.
- The locations of temporary fences.
Utility interruptions that are planned, which often happen during construction, should be told to the engineering staff of the building. A plan must be made for finding the specific utility, which can then be shared with the people who will be affected so that they can take quick steps.
Lastly, it would help if you made a plan to prevent accidents and have the client sign it. This plan should include details about dangerous activities, emergency phone numbers, safe ways to clean up, and many other things.
Construction Companies Should TalkÂ
For a complicated project to go smoothly, it’s essential to plan for good communication. Things can get out of hand quickly if the correct information doesn’t get to the right people at the right time.
This includes letting subcontractors know about infection control and noise rules, letting hospital staff know about temporary changes, and making sure that patients, staff, and visitors understand how the project will affect them before and during construction.
Utility service interruptions must be made clear to everyone who works at the building. Facility and engineering staff and the departments affected by shutdowns need to know what to expect reasonably in advance.
Training the whole construction crew is one of the most important ways to ensure that everyone knows how to follow safety rules and why they exist. For more information, check out our ICRA Hospital Training for Contractors on Dust Containment post.
Construction Companies Should Keep An Eye On
The only way to keep control of a construction job and ensure it is safe and healthy is to keep an eye on everything. When negative air pressure is used to keep dust from getting into patient areas during construction, air pressure is one of the things that is usually kept an eye on. If the right pressure difference isn’t observed, dust could get on the patients, so they need to be watched.
Noise is another thing to keep an eye on. A 2005 study on noise at Johns Hopkins that is often cited showed that patients’ stress levels go up when there is too much noise. More recently, researchers at King’s College London brought up again how high noise levels can hurt patients by making it hard for them to rest, heal, and get better.
As the contractor, you should keep an eye on noise and do what you can to cut it down. Here are some things you can do.
- Acquire tools and equipment designed to emit less noise.
- Put loud machines away from places where people might be.
- Sound-absorbing mats can be used to line temporary barriers.
- Look into other ways to use things that reduce noise.
- Safety is the third thing to keep an eye on. You need to keep an eye on the work crews and subcontractors and take action if they break any safety rules, even if that means firing them.
Construction Companies Should Keep Records
You finished the project, cleaned and sanitized the area carefully, and it is now ready to be used. But no project is completed without closeout paperwork, which different agencies usually require during site inspections. These things are likely to be in those papers.
- Occupancy Certificate
- Different fire protection materials and test certificates
- A compliance letter was sent to the project manager of the building
- Ground resistance test reports for electricity
- Certification and test reports for medical gas
- Certificate for analyzing domestic water
You can visit our office for the best healthcare construction project you need to construct in a nearby location.