APPA

www.appa.org/facilitiesmanager MAY/JUNE 2019 13 tests on drench showers and daily inspections to confirm pres- surization of spaces for infection-control purposes. In addition, anytime we perform work that may cause dust, we complete an infection-control risk assessment." 24/7/365 Failure of critical equipment can create life-and-death situations in med-ed settings. erefore, preventative maintenance is essen- tial for life-safety areas. Because many of these areas are patient- centered, facilities departments may choose to do a considerable amount of preventive maintenance work during off hours. "Patients always come first and may very well drive when facilities work can be completed," says Mary Vosevich, past APPA President and vice president for facilities manage- ment and chief facilities officer for the University of Kentucky in Lex- ington. "Failure in medical facilities where research is being conducted, or patient care is taking place, is unacceptable." For example, failure of elevators that are used for transporting patients could have life-threat- ening consequences. Flooding caused by a pipe failure in the emergency department could result in patients being diverted to other areas, wasting valuable time. "Hence it is important to have a long-term and continuous preventive maintenance plan in place that includes schedules and resources to make certain these scenarios do not occur," adds Vosevich. Medical research facilities are increasingly sophisticated, es- pecially within vivariums or biological research labs. e highly specific environmental conditions they require are generally more stringent than those for most universities, or sometimes even hospital areas. System redundancy is critical. "is is where the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Labora- tory Animal Care [AAALAC] comes into relevance," says Becker. "e loss of medical research animals resulting from facilities failure can be avoided with great forethought and care. Aside from the lives of the animals, equipment malfunction could affect years of research, waste millions of dollars of research money, and even affect the health of the researchers. To avoid this, 24/7/365 high-precision monitoring equipment is required for these spaces." AN EVOLVING HEALTHCARE LANDSCAPE e changing environment of healthcare is a constant chal- lenge, especially when it comes to technology. "I have found healthcare to be far more IT-intensive for med-ed administrative and operating systems, and those systems to be far more inte- grated across our systems, than for the universities I previously worked for," comments Elvey. Cybersecurity is also a major concern, especially regarding the strict privacy regulations now in place concerning patient healthcare records. In addition, due to the rapidly changing technology trends in healthcare, med-fed facilities are constantly replacing, upgrading, and installing new equipment across their systems, sometimes even before the current equipment reaches its normal end-of-life. e only way to keep up with the many changes going on in the healthcare industry , notes Elvey, "is to stay as active as pos- sible in professional associations such as CHA and NFPA, attend workshops and conferences, read industry trade journals, and connect with colleagues at other healthcare institutions." Mergers and acquisitions in the field of healthcare often change the mix of med-ed facilities, and therefore change compliance requirements. Trying to develop revised standards, policies, and procedures for use across a new entity can be daunting. For example, omas Jefferson University has expanded from being a primarily upper-level medical university and large medical school with extensive research facilities and three hospitals located in Philadelphia, to 14 hospitals spread across two states. It has also merged with Philadelphia University, a compre- hensive undergraduate and graduate university with multiple majors, sports teams, and remote campuses in two states. Such a high level of activity in just a few years has necessitated signifi- cant changes to computerized maintenance management sys- tems, space inventory, project management, compliance, parts procurement, and financial systems. Children's Medical Center, Dallas, Texas. Mary Vosevich Courtesy of Chilren's Health

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