Healthcare facilities managers can find guidance on facility infrastructure in the latest editions of the Mechanical Systems Handbook for Health Care Facilities and the Electrical Systems Handbook for Health Care Facilities, according to an article on the Health Facilities Management website.

The issues in these American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) handbooks will give healthcare facilities managers a foundation in these systems, the article said.

Because of infection control, patient comfort, environmental concerns and other factors, mechanical systems in hospitals must be designed and maintained at a higher standard than those in a typical building.

Energy efficiency is also a key issue. 

“Forty-two percent of energy used in hospitals is spent on reheating air. For years, the industry has made the excuse for high energy consumption that hospitals are unique and we can’t save energy because it’s a hospital, but all of a sudden the light bulb went off that we don’t have to design the energy-consumption systems in a hospital the same way as we have in the past,” said Ronald Holdaway, a mechanical engineer and author of the latest edition of the Mechanical Systems Handbook.

Read the article.