Creating or building the best hospital begins in the pre-design phase. This is the time when systems integration planning can set the stage for an efficient, effective and safe hospital building. A hospital with integrated systems is always better placed to offer the best services to patients and a more conducive, safer, hygienic environment for staff and others present on the premises.
A Smart Hospital can be created through solutions that integrate advanced building management, including environmental and patient room controls; electrical distribution and critical power; sophisticated security management; energy management; IT and server room management; and best-in-class third-party applications. As mentioned earlier, pre-construction planning is crucial. Without this, the conventional building process approach ends in hospital infrastructure that has separate systems, redundant cabling and inefficient communication. Consequently, there is waste of energy, productivity, time and money.
For hospitals, the solution lies in adopting an open-architecture approach that creates intelligent buildings by integrating systems such as heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC), access control, security management, power distribution and monitoring, IT management and lighting control. Such an active energy management system can allow customers to realise marked energy efficiency improvements in terms of usage, cost, safety and environmental impact. Compared to conventional hospitals, this can ensure up to 30 percent ongoing utility savings. More significantly, this approach can be used for new as well as existing hospitals.
With this approach, a hospital can have:
An open-architecture approach maximises potential project and operational benefits in all areas of the hospital, including:
A Smart Hospital can be created through solutions that integrate advanced building management, including environmental and patient room controls; electrical distribution and critical power; sophisticated security management; energy management; IT and server room management; and best-in-class third-party applications. As mentioned earlier, pre-construction planning is crucial. Without this, the conventional building process approach ends in hospital infrastructure that has separate systems, redundant cabling and inefficient communication. Consequently, there is waste of energy, productivity, time and money.
For hospitals, the solution lies in adopting an open-architecture approach that creates intelligent buildings by integrating systems such as heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC), access control, security management, power distribution and monitoring, IT management and lighting control. Such an active energy management system can allow customers to realise marked energy efficiency improvements in terms of usage, cost, safety and environmental impact. Compared to conventional hospitals, this can ensure up to 30 percent ongoing utility savings. More significantly, this approach can be used for new as well as existing hospitals.
With this approach, a hospital can have:
- Compatibility between all infrastructure systems and intuitive, Web-based interfaces that keep the owner in control, no matter where he or she happens to be.
- The ability to see the energy usage and track it so that wastage is reduced and energy use maximized.
- Modular solutions, simplified usage and systems integration that boosts performance.
An open-architecture approach maximises potential project and operational benefits in all areas of the hospital, including:
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It should be borne in mind, however, that it requires trained Certified Energy Architects (CEAs) to closely monitor the hospital’s construction and ensure the creation of an integrated, energy-efficient, low-maintenance hospital building. The CEAs also minimise the number of contractors to reduce the project’s complexity. Finally, they provide ongoing services to maintain and optimize the building throughout its life cycle.
Integrated healthcare infrastructure solutions from Schneider Electric utilize a mix of the open-architecture approach, including its EcoStruxure architecture, to build hospitals across the globe that improve healthcare services. For example, in the US, an Emergency Power Supply System Test Solution provides Beaumont Hospital with 99.99 percent power reliability for their healthcare facilities and saves 25 percent on labour costs. In the UK, a design-phase partnership approach helps the Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust build and deliver better hospitals three months before schedule. In Spain, Quiron Hospital saves up to 38 percent on energy costs and 20 percent on capital expenses via an EcoStruxure integrated hospital solution that will provide flexibility for years to come.
With costs savings being combined with better patient and staff welfare, Smart Hospitals are clearly the best way forward for all hospitals across the globe to ensure better healthcare outcomes.
Blurb
Creating or building the best hospital begins in the pre-design phase
Upfront planning includes long-term advantages such as lower life-cycle costs
Author:
Deepak Singh Thakur, Country Segment Manager, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Schneider Electric India
- Reduced risk of project delays or budget overruns with capital expenses being optimized via integration
of building systems. - Utility costs savings that are sustained throughout the building’s life cycle, generating new cash and more capital on an ongoing basis.
This would include 30 percent energy costs savings over traditional buildings. - Reduced risk of carbon taxes and penalties as energy efficiency becomes mandatory in the future.
- Full compliance with regulatory and accrediting norms throughout the building’s life cycle.
- Reduced risk of error because patient safety defenses are integrated into the hospital’s systems.
- Reduced risk of preventable adverse events.
- Improved patient, staff and asset security, which includes prevention of infant abductions and unexpected patient departures.
- Reduced risk of power failure as well as patient injuries or death due to power failure or electrical fires.
- Improved healing environment with minimal risk of healthcare-acquired infections through building systems.
- Rooms designed specifically for patient comfort, convenience and control.
- Best-in-class solutions for visitor management and nurse calls.
- A reliable, scalable, energy-efficient IT infrastructure supporting new productivity-enhancing initiatives such
as Electronic Health Records and Picture Archive Communications Systems. - Increased staff productivity through user-friendly tools and dashboards that provide access to
the right information at the right time – from operating theatre environment data to an overview of the entire facility. - An easier-to-maintain hospital building through systems that permit better predictive maintenance planning.
It should be borne in mind, however, that it requires trained Certified Energy Architects (CEAs) to closely monitor the hospital’s construction and ensure the creation of an integrated, energy-efficient, low-maintenance hospital building. The CEAs also minimise the number of contractors to reduce the project’s complexity. Finally, they provide ongoing services to maintain and optimize the building throughout its life cycle.
Integrated healthcare infrastructure solutions from Schneider Electric utilize a mix of the open-architecture approach, including its EcoStruxure architecture, to build hospitals across the globe that improve healthcare services. For example, in the US, an Emergency Power Supply System Test Solution provides Beaumont Hospital with 99.99 percent power reliability for their healthcare facilities and saves 25 percent on labour costs. In the UK, a design-phase partnership approach helps the Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust build and deliver better hospitals three months before schedule. In Spain, Quiron Hospital saves up to 38 percent on energy costs and 20 percent on capital expenses via an EcoStruxure integrated hospital solution that will provide flexibility for years to come.
With costs savings being combined with better patient and staff welfare, Smart Hospitals are clearly the best way forward for all hospitals across the globe to ensure better healthcare outcomes.
Blurb
Creating or building the best hospital begins in the pre-design phase
Upfront planning includes long-term advantages such as lower life-cycle costs
Author:
Deepak Singh Thakur, Country Segment Manager, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Schneider Electric India
Smart hospitals that are intelligent and efficient as their staff are already a reality. With integrated system they offer unmatched benefits for patients and staff, writes Deepak Singh Thakur
The construction of a building has complexities of various kinds. The difficulties and challenges are only compounded when constructing a hospital. According to the U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) affect one in 25 patients in the US. An estimated 722,000 patients acquired infections while admitted in an acute-care hospital in the US in 2011, with 75,000 succumbing to the infections. This is more than 205 deaths per day each year from HAIs. Deaths from errors committed in the hospital are another category that further increases morbidity and mortality rates. Given such a scenario, it is important to build Smart Hospitals that improve safety standards.
The construction of a building has complexities of various kinds. The difficulties and challenges are only compounded when constructing a hospital. According to the U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) affect one in 25 patients in the US. An estimated 722,000 patients acquired infections while admitted in an acute-care hospital in the US in 2011, with 75,000 succumbing to the infections. This is more than 205 deaths per day each year from HAIs. Deaths from errors committed in the hospital are another category that further increases morbidity and mortality rates. Given such a scenario, it is important to build Smart Hospitals that improve safety standards.
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