While the importance of health is seldom undermined, in the current times, the pressing need for healthcare is as evident as ever. However, what often isn’t considered is the buildings that healthcare facilities are housed in.
Because medical buildings require very specific infrastructure to support medical equipment and machines, the construction processes involved are unique. Thus, finding the right contractor for the job is crucial.
Differences In Medical Building Construction
From the structure to the design and the specific regulations, medical building construction is packed with challenges and necessary requirements. Here are some of the ways that medical building construction differs from other construction projects.
Healthcare-Specific Construction
The medical field is continuously changing. At the same time, there has been a global push for accessibility and cost reduction in healthcare resources. This has birthed a need for the production of infrastructure that is newly engineered and affordable.
On a smaller scale, each type of medical facility requires different specifications. While a dental practitioner’s office may need certain features, they will differ from the specific needs of a walk-in emergency care unit or an assisted living facility.
To keep up with this versatile and volatile demand, the medical construction industry continuously parallels the changing needs with solutions. This is a task that requires agility, sensitivity, and resilience.
Contractors need to provide the quality of infrastructure required to properly serve the workers and patients of the facility.
Regulatory Building Standards
Medical building specifications mandate both regulatory and technical requirements. These may differ from state to state. Medical building contractors need to make sure that they are aware of and abide by these requirements.
Medical buildings are also starting to factor resilience planning into their designs. Resilience planning has been effective in planning for infrastructure in disaster-prone areas, such as those subject to hurricanes. This type of planning helps to safeguard vulnerable healthcare structures during disasters.
Medical Construction And Patient Safety
Medical building construction also needs to place emphasis on the safety of patients and staff. The well-being of patients must be at the forefront of the design of any healthcare building process.
There have been many cases where patients were harmed due to human error and other causes at the hand of the lack of concern for safety matters, user-friendliness, and design flaws in healthcare building design and construction.
Thus, great care needs to be taken to prevent medical errors and facility-acquired infections. Designing a medical building according to best practices can help to ensure the safety of everyone in the building.
The Flow Of Patient Care Cycle
In general, the primary objective for building construction is shelter. But, a medical building needs to function in a way that allows ease of movement between the different spaces. A blocked up entrance as a result of an overflowing waiting room is precisely what you want to avoid. You also don’t want patients to get lost in a labyrinth of confusing walkways and passages.
There needs to be a good, logical flow throughout the building. This can also mean that healthcare staff can move seamlessly and quickly throughout the building. Being able to get to certain rooms quicker can make all the difference in an emergency.
To mitigate any resistance to flow, special care needs to be taken to identify points of possible congestion. The best way to view a medical facility is as a set of interlinking systems, each with its own direction and function. The building needs to be designed accordingly.
Specialized Contractors
In conventional commercial construction, any local and licensed contractor may have the necessary experience to get the job done according to the specifications. Although, the quality of the finished product might be debatable.
When it comes to medical construction, you don’t want to just get the job done. Keeping your patients in mind, you want to make sure that the job is done well. Because of this, why waste your time when you could get your medical facility constructed the right way the first time? Having that peace of mind is worth it.
Final Thoughts
While many building contracts revolve around budget, the foundational purpose of construction is to provide a comfortable space for people to function in. When it comes to medical building construction, the industry has put the people(patient)-centred design back into the forefront of infrastructure. To do this well, it is essential to construct medical buildings with the best practices in mind.
At Chad Fisher Construction, we have experience in medical building construction and know the importance of designing these types of facilities correctly. Medical construction is unique in the way that it requires very particular considerations in order to operate effectively. Not only this but if done right, it can help transform the healthcare system for the better.