Helping Patients Heal: Why the Role of Healthcare Facilities Managers is Critical

Helping Patients Heal: Why the Role of Healthcare Facilities Managers is Critical This spring, Invicara exhibited at ASHE’s 2019 Healthcare Facility Planning, Design, and Construction Summit in Phoenix, Arizona. This collaborative conference brings together leaders in the healthcare built environment – healthcare project managers, healthcare facilities managers and AEC firms. It’s always a great venue to connect and collaborate in this space, and the Invicara team had some great conversations with the folks that stopped by our booth. Throughout the show, we heard a common theme in our conversations – optimizing the built environment is critical to having the best outcomes for a patient. BIM is important for facility optimization, but for healthcare owners to realize the value of BIM, they need someone with the specific knowledge and training to manage the BIM process throughout the building lifecycle.

Why is the role of the healthcare facilities manager critical?

Brian Smith, an Application Services Consultant for Invicara explains, “All buildings have thousands of elements that need to be managed throughout design, construction, and after handover during day-to-day operations. But healthcare buildings are even more complex. There’s so much infrastructure involved as a result, there’s more information to manage than you’d see in a traditional office complex or retail space.” Brian is right – just think of a room in a hospital, a lot of elements, very little space. Each piece of equipment is essential and varies based on the function of the room. It’s crucial for patient outcomes that exactly what needs to be in that room is actually in that room. The requirements for facilities and information management in a healthcare built environment, are just as complex and are as high-stakes as the building itself. Brian explains, “Healthcare facilities managers fill a critical role but are presented with a massive challenge - how can they manage the thousands of information pieces related to the operations of their building?”

Handover: Is It Bigger than BIM?

Another thing that we discussed at the show is why handover is a huge challenge for healthcare FMs. Brian notes, “The answer isn’t to throw another piece of technology at the issue. BIM is only part of the solution; it’s a tool to support the healthcare facilities manager, not the end deliverable. Without someone to shepherd the information generated for a healthcare facility, data is collected but siloed in different systems and documents and is difficult to access for those who need it.” With that in mind, our team at Invicara acts as the liaison between BIM technology and the facilities managers to ensure that all the important data related to the healthcare facility is collected throughout design and construction. We help the project team aggregate their building data into a workable model, giving the healthcare facilities manager all the information they need to not only ensure a smooth transition from handover, but throughout operations. Want to discuss your upcoming healthcare facility project? Contact us today to learn how Invicara delivers complete, verifiable data at handover.