Engineering Inc. - March/April 2005 - (Page 17)

This side of our business has been robust for the last couple of years, and we have some fairly and accessing patient data ... large work that is on the communications network. backlogged for A trend toward specialty clin- next year. ics off hospital grounds those that concentrate on orthopedics, BRAD FISHER for instance has driven some FRIEDMAN-FISHER ASSOCIATES o f the building boom. Con- struction of such specialty clin- ics has tripled since 1990, to 92 facilities last year, with at least Patient safety, comfort and d e s i g n of many hospitals is 2 0 more under development, c o n v e n i e n c e are other factors becoming outdated. As hospitals according to a 2003 U.S. Gen- driving the building boom. As move toward digital radiology eral Accounting Office report. more becomes known about the and imaging, for example, there And the advent of less invasive spread of disease, there's a move is less need for large spaces to surgical procedures, which allow t o upgrade HVAC systems to s t o re film. And because older patients to be in and out of the i m p r o v e indoor air quality. hospitals added new technology hospital in a day, has brought a Shared rooms are becoming a in a patchwork fashion, radiol- c o r r e s p o n d i n g demand for thing of the past, as more peo- o g y departments and the like ambulatory surgical centers and communications that allow staff ple demand private rooms and tend to be far from emergency other outpatient centers. to register patients at the bed- b a t h ro o m s . High on patients' rooms, where they are needed. There is acceleration in the side, for instance, or a digital l i s t s are upgraded waiting They're all the way at the move from the hospital to the environment that permits doc- ro o m s , more retail stores and other end of the hospital, so you office, Jaeger says. Hospitals tors to access X-rays from several restaurants, greeters at the front h a v e excessive patient trans- f e e l the need to provide their workstations rather than having d o o r, brighter rooms, more portation as opposed to having patients with a more comfort- to view the actual film. Today's family spaces and bedside termi- the technology at the emergency able, less clinical setting. hospitals also need reliable back- nals that let patients check e- department, Kinser says. There also is increased demand up power and communications mail, use the phone and watch Legislation also is a factor. In for family-care clinics, medical systems to keep things running television. California, hospitals are facing office buildings and stand-alone smoothly. The old hospitals with dou- more than $10 billion in new imaging centers closer to where It wasn't too many years ago b l e patient rooms ... people health care projects as they work people live and work. t h a t if the data network in a d o n't like it, Kinser says. t o meet a 2008 deadline to MRI and CT scan [services] h o s p i t a l went down, it didn't They'll go to the hospital down m a k e seismic improvements. are now out of the hospital and matter, Kinser says. Clinical t h e street. To be competitive, Congress' passage of the Medi- i n t o the community, in areas care continued as if nothing had they have to go to single private c a r e bill in 2003 increased w h e r e typically it was just happened. Today, if a network rooms, and when you start talk- Medicare reimbursements, eased retail, Fisher says. This brings goes out in a hospital, clinical ing about that kind of massive financial pressures on hospitals a hospital's services closer to c a r e comes to a virtual stop, renovation, it's often cheaper to and provided them more capital t h e i r clientele and out of the because everything is so reliant go down the street and build a f o r structural expansions and hospital environment. on getting information, commu- new hospital. improvements. Moreover, the structural nicating orders, viewing images Design and engineering work this row and above by HarleyEllis for the William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich. M a r c h l April 2005 ENGINEERING INC. 1 7

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Engineering Inc. - March/April 2005

Table of Contents
From ACEC To You
Ask Members
News & Notes
Market Watch
Legislative Action
COVER STORY: A Perfect Legal Storm
Interview With F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr.
Is There an Engineer in the House
The ABCs Of ESOPS
ACEC/PAC Donations Break All-Time Record
ACEC Roundtable
Members In the News
One on One

Engineering Inc. - March/April 2005