IMEC Facility Planning Program

Whether it be a large institutional hospital or a rural clinic, IMEC has a full array of facility master planning services that assists the Shepherd with operational commissioning and facility start-ups of hospitals and health clinics.

Starting with Facility Access, IMEC reviews all of the facility entry points for best and safest access for patients and logistic support insuring the smoothest entry to the facility; including patient and staff access, parking, emergency and ambulance locations, and patient ambulatory entryways. Review of the delivery, service and waste stream points is also considered for safety and security of the facility. Patient throughput and way finding is reviewed to reduce bottlenecks and crowding. The department size and its relative adjacency to other departments is carefully reviewed for efficient flow of both patient and staff and infection control considerations. Recommendations are made to provide for the safest and calmest environment possible with the resources available.

IMEC engineers and planners review facility plans and make recommendations for the Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP), Emergency, Standby Power, IT systems of the facility infrastructure and other support systems to insure that the equipment selected and provided may be properly supported. IMEC makes recommendations for the proper sizing of equipment and appropriate location of termination points.

Opening a new facility or commissioning advanced technology equipment requires thoughtful planning; IMEC creates opening plans that includes the phasing in sequence the departmental operations and the required staffing necessary to start-up patient care services and insure departments are properly supported. This includes the staffing requirements and all the logistic support needed for installation and ongoing patient care operations.

Included in the master planning process is a technology review to assess the suitability of the equipment used in the facility this includes an assessment of the infrastructure, community requirements, patient base and, case load to warrant the use of a particular technology. Examples include Hemodialysis, Computed Tomography (CT), and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).