7-26-19

Real Estate Journal — Healthcare & Medical Properties— July 26 - August 8, 2019 — 11A

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M id A tlantic

H ealthcare & M edical P roperties By Cathy Dolan, Health Well Done New Delivery Practices That Are Impacting Projects

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hey say that con- struction is slow to change. While that

the HWD3 approach. Diversity + Collaboration = Better Projects Having a diverse team that is working together for the same goal – creating a good experience for the patient – is how patient-centered spaces are created. There are so many building sys- tems and technologies avail- able for healthcare facilities that tying them together is a monumental task for just one person. But by working to- gether as a team and sharing ideas, the best solutions can be found. And when everyone feels their voice is heard and

that their contribution is val- ued, they are in the best place to deliver their best work. The Healthy Team principle is all about building strong connections and relationships that drive creative problem- solving. The Process Every construction project needs a process to guide it to completion. The Healthy Project principle is the back- bone of the project, a way to document all the informa- tion that’s been collected and manage the project from start to finish. A well-structured project gives the team a clear

roadmap on how the project is going to progress and help focus everyone’s efforts. This principle typically has five phases: initiation, planning, controls, implementation, and close out. Following this methodology will help keep projects on track when all the ideas of the team members start to converge. No Longer Business As Usual Expanded access to health- care is driving the evolution of healthcare services and systems. But to create health- care facilities effectively we need to rethink how clini- cal spaces can yield greater

benefits. Modernizing the construction project delivery process is the key to deliver- ing better projects, and ulti- mately, better outcomes for patients. To learnmore about my HWD3 approach, check out my book, Health Well Done: A Patient-Centered Management Approach to Building Healthcare Envi- ronments . It provides clear guidance on how to put these 3 principles in action on your next healthcare project, for an integrated and effective approach. CathyDolan is president of Health Well Done. 

may be true, new ways of m a n a g i n g and deliver- ing construc- tion projects a r e s t a r t - ing to filter through and make an im-

Cathy Dolan

pact on the way we design and build projects. After all, if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you always get – construction projects that aren’t always fit for pur- pose, designed and built by overworked people who don’t understand the user’s needs. But this is changing. A People-Centered Management Approach People are at the heart of everything we do – whether it is designing a new space or using that space as a place to rest, recover, and heal. That’s why my Health Well Done approach (HWD3) uses the 3 people-centric principles of Healthy Patient, Healthy Team, and Healthy Project. Without keeping the people in mind, a construction project becomes a number-crunching exercise: delivering a set number of materials to an estimated schedule for a specified price. Managing and executing projects this way doesn’t deliver the spaces we need for better patient out- comes. But with this integrat- ed project delivery approach, we can transform healthcare from done to well done. Language Matters Every healthcare construc- tion project should be about the patient. Often, people are churning out numbers but they don’t mention the word “patient” or “people”, instead they use “FTEs” or “primary care person”. Howmany FTEs are needed to run the new facility? What price can we charge a primary care person for this treatment? But this keeps the focus only on today, and not on what’s best for the patient. If you start to think about who that person is and what their needs are while they are sick, it’s far easier to make the process more ef- ficient and save money in the long run, whether by using good design or incorporating new technology. This is the Healthy Patient principle of

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