The importance of healthcare cannot be understated in today’s trying times, and with good reason. Healthcare facilities must be built using specific designs, materials, and construction equipment to meet their unique requirements.
From healthcare-specific construction to regulator building standards, patient safety, and patient flow, medical building construction is rife with critical building requirements and codes that make them different from other construction projects.
This makes it imperative to get the right medical building contractor to supervise the design, planning, and implementation of the medical building project.
Considerations
The need for new healthcare facilities in the United States continues to grow as people require more specialized care. You find each state has its own medical building construction standards and regulations the architects must adhere to when constructing new medical facilities.
This segment provides critical considerations for medical building construction:
1. Healthcare-specific construction
The healthcare system is continuously evolving and has become more dynamic with technological advancements. Each type of healthcare facility requires tailor-made building specifications that differ from other health facilities. For example, construction standards for a walk-in emergency unit will have different specifications compared to construction for a dentist’s office.
Every medical building has its own construction requirements that the architect or builder must incorporate. Thus, a detailed pre-construction plan is needed to ensure specific designs are met and implemented to ensure effective and timely care.
2. Regulatory building standards
Unique medical building specifications bind the healthcare facility to the state’s technical and regulatory requirements. Again, these differ from one state to another. Therefore, medical building contractors in the United States must ensure they abide by the state’s regulatory building codes and standards to avoid rubbing shoulders with the law.
Many of today’s medical buildings also facto resilience planning into their construction requirements. This is especially necessary for disaster-prone areas that are more likely to experience earthquakes, typhoons, or even hurricanes.
Resilience planning also helps safeguard vulnerable healthcare installations and other infrastructure during catastrophic disasters. Sustainability is critical in any construction design, more so in medical facilities.
3. Patient Safety
The construction of more medical buildings plays a critical role in guaranteeing patient safety. The more healthcare facilities there are, the better care patients will receive. Consequently, every medical facility must be designed with patient and staff safety in mind.
Assistive devices have also become integral to patient safety in medical buildings and help prevent patient slips and falls. Thus, they are also integral to the healthcare facility’s building design. For instance, healthcare spaces must have clearly marked signs to direct patients, staff, and visitors where they need to go. Sometimes, even the slightest delay could have disastrous consequences.
4. Function and patient flow
Medical building construction needs to adapt to the increasing need for healthcare, starting with the design of the healthcare facility. In fact, the patient’s perception of the care a healthcare facility provides stems primarily from how the facility appears. The patients’ and caregivers’ satisfaction levels play a key role in each patient’s overall care.
Therefore, architects and builders must consider patients’ needs when designing and constructing new medical buildings. For example, the waiting room should have ample space for different activities like checking in and waiting to see a patient. Walkways and intersections should be labeled to help patients and visitors navigate the healthcare facility safely.
The need for specialized Healthcare contractors
Finding the right medical building contractor is critical for helping your healthcare facility to meet your patient’s needs by providing effective and timely care. It also goes a step further to guarantee the staff’s satisfaction and safety which is critical for the best patient recovery. The considerations highlighted above help contractors and builders meet all the medical building construction requirements set by their state.
Hill Commercial Construction is the leading medical building construction company in Colorado that offers clients expertise in critical phases of their projects. From due diligence to the final closeout into warranty, we go above and beyond to help you define and locate the right space for your medical building. Contact us to find out how we can help you with your construction project.
