Two Unexpected Ways Building Automation Might Benefit Your Hospital

This audio was created using Microsoft Azure Speech Services

A recent article by Megan Headley on FacilityCare’s website details “Two Big Ways Building Automation Can Improve the Patient Experience” and discusses some benefits that you might not be getting out of your Building Automation System— but should be. Here’s our quick summary of the article.

The first “big way” to improve patient experience that the article discusses is how your building management system (BMS) could be used to significantly improve the patient’s view of their experience— if it isn’t doing so already. A well-designed BMS with remote capabilities can give patients a greater degree of control over their physical environment, allowing them both a feeling of empowerment and comfort with the ability to adjust their surroundings to their liking. At the same time, facilities managers can use the BMS to set parameters to keep patient control of their room environment within safe and recommended levels for energy efficiency. This leads to reduced energy costs and higher HCAHPS patient satisfaction ratings for your facility—a double success by any standard.

The article also highlights how the BMS holds promise as a method for enhancing building (and patient) safety and security.

Automatic controls can be used to maintain very specific environmental conditions to ensure that facilities keep patients free of healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs). The BMS can control temperature and humidity, two essential components in preventing those infections. It can also be used to control pressure (a key component in limiting the spread of infections) in rooms designed for isolating patients with airborne diseases, such as tuberculosis.

Radio frequency (RFID) or real-time location (RTLS) technology as a part of a BMS can be used to maintain asset security, by alerting staff if a piece of valuable equipment moves outside of a set area, which might suggest that it’s being stolen. RTLS tags can also protect patient safety, for example, by signaling to staff when a patient with Alzheimer’s moves out of their designated “safe area.” In short, a BMS BAS can easily be used to protect both facility assets and the patients they care for.

If you want to learn about these benefits in more depth— and hear what the experts themselves, including Schneider Electric’s own Warren Rosebraugh, have to say on the subject— read the full article, and tell us in the comments how you’re planning on maximizing the function of your BMS.