Client Background
Hospital systems have diverse needs when it comes to IH. They consist of not just their main hospital campus, but typically also include smaller specialty hospitals (women & children, orthopedic, cancer center, etc.), medical office buildings, nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities, to name a few. Additionally, within their facilities, they have a variety of IH needs, anesthetic gases from ORs, chemicals in the labs, mold, asbestos, lead in radiation areas, exhaust fumes (helicopters, ambulances), ergonomic issues, blood-borne pathogens, noise for groundskeepers, respiratory protection...basically a little bit of everything. Their mission is to treat people and save lives, but their employees still have to be protected, their buildings maintained, and the environment protected.
CATEGORYWorkplace IH | DATESeptember 1, 2010 | STATUSOngoing |
Client Goals
The goals of our Hospital-type Clients range widely but often include: Protection of patients, employees, and the public, good environmental stewardship, all while operating within a limited budget with minimal disruption to medical procedures. Most of our interactions with hospitals are to provide the monitoring or testing they need while not interfering with patient activities. We also work with their employees in a way that they feel comfortable and we are often working with little to no supervision since they have other more demanding tasks to attend to. We provide a unique service to each client which also includes helping to soothe concerns and present information they can use with their stakeholders and their regulating agencies. But their main goal is: Protecting their patients!
The Challenge
Challenges with hospitals are always:
- working in areas that have patients,
- sensitive activities, or
- sensitive information;
- intruding in areas without making patients uncomfortable or upsetting the staff,
- finding your way around the hospital on your own;
- providing results to all stakeholders (knowing that some will may angry with results)
Project Plan
Every project plan in this environment has some givens:
- Be polite,
- understand your project need may come second to patient activities.
- Be flexible,
- work with whatever you can, and
- don’t expect timelines to be firm.
- Be honest and ethical,
- don’t pull punches, and
- respect the opinions of all stakeholders, but hold your ground when necessary.
- Learn your way around and
- ask for directions from anyone not just your contact.
Project Results
THIS NEEDS WORK!!!!
If successful, we leave the site having completed our tasks, not ruffled any feathers, avoided interruptions to procedures, and obtained valuable data. Our reports should help correct problems, document current protective measures, provide required regulatory data, and/or protect the hospital from complaints. It takes a certain type of person to navigate a hospital system.