Engineers operating in healthcare facilities tackle unique challenges, according to an article on the Consulting-Specifying Engineer website.
Evolving technology, increased specialization and maintaining operations while under construction are some healthcare-specific issues.
According to Larry Anderson, principal at TEECOM in Oakland, Calif., the number one trend in the design of hospitals and medical campuses is the convergence and integration of technologies into the infrastructure of hospitals.
"For example, data from the nurse call system can be used to collect information on call times. The data can then be used to support a hospital's consumer assessment of health care providers and systems (CAPHS) score. There has been an increase in wireless communications infrastructure within hospitals to support connected medical devices along with patient and family mobile devices. Many connected medical devices can now directly populate the patient's medical record and the hospital's security systems," he said in the article.
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