.jpg)
It appears that 2011 will be another difficult year for construction professionals. The recession has created a more competitive medical construction market for smaller projects. However, it is also the recession and the potential changes of healthcare reform which are redefining the opportunity for new medical facilities to provide care to an aging and under-employed public.
Outpatient services will lead the way as the critical component in delivering healthcare services. They will provide more efficient, and more flexible medical treatment to more people, at a lower cost than those services provided within a hospital. Key medical outpatient facilities will include quick treat/urgent care facilities, diagnostic facilities, wellness centers, and ambulatory surgery facilities, staged in a manner providing economical and efficient services while simultaneously serving the hospital’s referral network. In addition, highly specialized facilities such as cancer centers will provide multi-disciplinary treatment to patients outside of the hospital.
By understanding the underlying trends of healthcare services, it becomes the obligation of the healthcare design community to deliver the proper solutions. New facilities need to be medically efficient, improve patient care, and incorporate the new and future opportunities provided by medical technology. Understanding the input of technology in all areas of medical care will allow for proper design. In the future, technology need not look like an unplanned afterthought in a medical facility.
At the same time, incorporating new technology into the design processes will assist the design professionals who are under constant pressure to improve quality, accelerate schedules and, of course, reduce costs. Design tools such as BIM (Building Information Modeling) can increase the productivity of design and construction by using 3D capabilities for the interpretation of systems and the visualization of buildings and spaces.
The more sophisticated the tools used, the more specialized training is necessary for architects and engineers in order to successfully respond to the rising technology and construction challenges. Project delivery methods are changing, as well as team building, and principles of lean design are being integrated into major medical construction projects.
Of all the challenges ahead in 2011, “We will not be bored!” can be stated with certainty.
