Hcs/446 homework help

Identifying Facility Needs and Establishing Priorities

WITH AN UNDERSTANDING of your current situation, future market strategy and projected demand, and potential operations improvement opportunities and technology investments, current and future facility needs can be identified and priorities established. The first step is to determine your space needs by location on a department (or service line) basis so that you know the magnitude of current and future space shortages. Other facility deficiencies can then be identified, summarized, and prioritized. Key questions include the following: How well do we orient our customers as they arrive on the campus and circulate through our facilities? What is the workload capacity of our current facilities? Do we have enough space to support our current and projected number of licensed and staffed beds, procedure rooms, equipment, staff, and other required functions? Is our space organized and configured appropriately?

UNDERSTANDING THE SPACE PLANNING PROCESS

Space planning typically requires varying levels of detail at different points in the facility planning process. During the facility master planning stage, a broad-brush approach is used to assess the magnitude of current and future space shortages. Using each department’s footprint, a comparison is made between the current space allocation, the current space need (based on existing services, workload, equipment, staffing, and so on), and the future space need (based on program growth, new services, and anticipated operational and technology changes). The resulting preliminary space projections are used to develop facility reconfiguration options, site plans, and department block diagrams as part of the facility master plan. The planning horizon should correspond to the workload forecasts discussed in chapter 3. For the purposes of facility master planning, the space requirements of individual departments are estimated in the aggregate department gross square feet (DGSF), which differs from the detailed, room-by-room space programming in net square feet (NSF) as described in chapter 8. Detailed, room-by-room space programming is generally undertaken after specific projects have been defined as an outcome of the facility master plan.Its approach to preliminary space planning depends on the organization’s objectives, immediate issues, and corporate culture. The broad-brush approach is used to assess the overall scope of space deficiencies. Detailed, room-by-room space programming is not routinely performed at the facility master planning stage because it entails a tremendous amount of staff time and energy that is not appropriate for all departments, particularly those whose facilities are not an issue and whose status quo is assumed for the near future. In some cases, a more focused approach may be appropriate for one or more departments or service lines, and hospital leaders may fast track th