Six Benefits Health Care Owners can Expect to Achieve by Adopting and Implementing BIM Standards

March 24, 2021 0 Comments

 


What percentage of hospitals are adopting BIM and/or some form of construction standardization throughout their facilities? 

 Approximately 65% per a recent study.

 If you are in the AEC industry, you know there is a growing presence of technology in health care construction. Across projects, 48% of project managers use Building Information Modeling (BIM) specifically for hospital construction. From streamlining renovations to tracking equipment, BIM is a powerful solution for the health care industry. What are the overall benefits of BIM in health care, and how is an accurate 3D model a logistical asset?

 In simplest terms, BIM is a 3D model of your facility representing complex details of building components and detailed information about those components. Your BIM model illustrates structural components, walls, piping, ductwork, and equipment, to name a few. It shows the plumbing system and pipes as they run through the building and their proximity to structural walls and steel framing. At the same time, BIM is also an accurate representation of human spaces. You can use a BIM model as a 3D map for navigation, space allocation, and job/departmental assignments.

 BIM is commonly used to coordinate MEP (mechanical, electrical, plumbing) works so no trade crosses another's work - reducing mistakes, costs, and logistical planning time. But health care has a far greater potential for putting this 3D technology to use. Within a BIM model, you can add further details like the location of specific resources and service requirements for life safety equipment. This might include everything from your supply closet locations to tracking service life for emergency room and laboratory equipment for a health care facility. Combined with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tracking, you can even keep a live 3D visualization of all mobile assets inside the facility. BIM is a cutting-edge technology, and some of these uses are still in development for future use. Your building could be the advanced example of a new BIM implementation. 

Advantages of BIM in Health Care Facilities


1.     Faster Remodeling & Repair Work

BIM removes the uncertainty of whether an electrician will encounter a pipe or if a carpenter might impact a power line. With BIM, coordination becomes easier by making the location of all structural features apparent. 

Coordinating outages is a life safety concern and altering traffic can shut down entire wings and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. BIM allows your team to work more efficiently and accurately so that down-time is limited, and costs are ultimately more controlled. BIM facilitates the prefabrication of significant building elements like patient room headwalls and emergency room suites, streamlining construction in the field and optimizing schedule/cost savings.

2.     Visibility into the entire facility in a model from your desk

The overall design for health care facilities promotes patient privacy. The hallways are like mazes, and spaces like offices or supply closets are discrete from patients and visiting family members. Unfortunately, this can lead to lost space and inefficient functionality. If you need every sink in use for post-COVID hand washing, a BIM model can quickly identify which closets have hidden sinks without a facility-wide search. 

Need a power outlet in an unusual location? The BIM model knows where all the nearby circuits are - and if the feeder panel is sufficient for planned usage.

3.     Faster Medical Equipment Planning and Upgrades

Installing, servicing or upgrading medical equipment is a vital pursuit for any health care facility. Often, you need more than just a schedule - you need to know where equipment installation takes place, if those rooms have the correct infrastructure, and which doors are wide enough to wheel large equipment to where it needs to be. BIM makes this easy by showing you the information you need - from the power devices to the double doors.

4.     Easier Internal Equipment & Resource Tracking

Internal equipment tracking is essential for health care beyond the resource management we previously discussed. Your facility undoubtedly includes several expensive pieces of equipment ranging from handheld tools to X-Ray and MRI machines. Each piece of equipment needs to be scheduled, serviced, and tracked through a chain of custody and work ticket - but one missed step and you've got a missing crash cart on your hands or have taken a piece of equipment out of service during planned patient use. 

BIM provides a new way to track your equipment. Using a combination of RFID tags and BIM technology, your Facilities Maintenance and BIOMED Equipment managers can know where a piece of equipment is and when it should be serviced. Whether you need to find missing equipment or reassign equipment currently in use, your BIM model allows you to plan, track and service critical building and medical equipment throughout its life cycle.

5.     Increased Profitability through Optimized Space Management

BIM isn't just a blueprint of your rooms. If done correctly, it's an accurate representation of your building and all of its components. With the precise placement of each shelf, machine, and piece of furniture, you can also clearly visualize space use. You can reclaim square footage by examining the BIM Model and identifying wasted space or where slight adjustments could win you precious room for patient rooms, storage, clinical areas, or more comfortable human spaces.

6.     More Efficient Facility Maintenance

Lastly, BIM makes it possible to track your building systems from basement to rooftop. By connecting BIM data with your current Building Automation System (BAS), you can isolate a faulty circuit and identify every room or outlet on that circuit. BIM can help you find an elusive clog in the facility pipes or enhance your energy efficiency planning.

Interested in implementing BIM?

Whether your health care facility is a new construction project, or you are planning a significant addition or renovation in the future - BIM can provide the many benefits listed above. If you are interested in getting started, or in increasing the likelihood of achieving the benefits described above, contact us at vbono@buildwithproactive.com or visit our BIM Platform at https://www.buildwithproactive.com/bim/