A health facility manager's seemingly endless responsibilities are far too numerous to cover, so we boiled it down to a half-dozen tasks along with some tools, techniques, and equipment that you'll find useful in your efforts.
Before we get to the list of six, here are a few general facilities management responsibilities to keep in mind:
Facility managers' responsibilities are varied and demanding, and the best in the field display competence in many areas: finance, administration, compliance, planning, design, construction, maintenance, and operations. While juggling disparate duties, a good health facilities manager maintains a steady focus on perhaps the most important thing of all: providing the best possible environment of care for patients and staff.
With that disclaimer behind us, here are the six essential functions of health facilities management along with some tools to increase efficiency, safety, and patient well-being.
Keeping track of and updating certification and building compliance with laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act is an important responsibility of the health facilities manager.
The Joint Commission (TJC) lists numerous accreditation programs for organizations, such as:
In addition to accreditation programs, TJC also has certification programs for individuals. Here are just a few examples:
As with many of our six essential functions, good facility management software (FMS) can facilitate keeping track of certifications and accreditations.
Many products and services flow through a healthcare facility that here too, FMS is a practical necessity. To help you optimize vendor management, rather than sifting through spreadsheets and stacks of paper, make it routine to enter vendor data into the FMS. It can then help you track contacts, service contracts, and warranties, providing reminders to keep all that important stuff on track. It's just good management to make sure vendors fulfill their contracts and honor warranties.
Another way FMS can help is in price negotiations. Vendor pricing agreements can help healthcare facilities save money, whether by up-front savings or by negotiating the total cost of ownership by getting the vendor to agree to a cap on maintenance and repair costs over the life of the equipment.
You probably already know that while you are required to do your best to track equipment, your efforts will not result in perfection. Once again, let's look to facility management software for help to keep shrinkage down to manageable levels. With FMS, you'll have an accessible record of purchase dates, serial and model numbers, condition, and other descriptive data. Electronic tagging can help track equipment and tools without performing manual inventories. A good FMS can also help you know when to replace rather than repair.
Preventive maintenance is all about avoiding unexpected breakdowns. When you track equipment age, condition, and hours of use, you can schedule maintenance that provides benefits like these:
If your preventive maintenance project involves accessing the space above ceiling tiles, you'll need to employ dust mitigation measures. The best way to do so efficiently is to use state-of-the-art equipment designed specifically for the job. See HEPACART and DUSTBUGGY under "Oversee Construction Projects'' below.
In healthcare, managing the security of people, assets, and data is a significant challenge:
Now we get to HEPACART's happy place, which is keeping building occupants safe from dust, debris, and airborne pathogens, whether it's ceiling work or a major hospital renovation.
If your project involves repeated drop ceiling access (e.g., pulling new data cable through the ceiling or checking the health of fire alarms), you'll save many worker hours, reduce waste, and improve safety with HEPACART® or DUSTBUGGY® dust containment carts. Engineered and constructed by healthcare contractors for healthcare contractors, our HEPACART Classic and HEPACART® Auto Lift Mobile Containment feature an embedded HEPAFORCE® AIR Negative Air Machine & Scrubber, making them ideal for patient care facilities.
However, if you are planning a major construction project, you'll want to consider purchasing all members of our dust-busting triumvirate: AnteRoom, AIR Negative Air Machine, and STARC Systems reusable wall barriers.
To sum up, our advice has been mostly about getting the right software (FMS) and the right hardware (the HEPACART equipment described above) that will make a half dozen essential functions more efficient. We hope it’s been helpful.
To learn more about HEPACART products, read 4 Must-Have Dust Containment Tools for Healthcare.
More reading: