Hospital construction is a complex endeavor. The general contractor holds huge responsibility in making sure the final product is of the highest quality and is finished on time. Hospital specific structural features and specialized systems such as water and air purification, radiation shielding, and electrical require a high level of management, multiple party coordination, and extensive tracking. Installing specialized systems means more subcontractors and extensive communication to coordinate them. In a normal hospital room are as many as 16 different conduits - water, air, electric, data, etc. - so there will be as many as eight different contractors in every room.

Not only are the owner’s and engineering requirements extensive, jurisdictions such as the state of California require additional inspections and documentation to show that compliance is met. An automated solution manages the process, provides reporting, and creates complete documentation that gives assurance to all parties that the structure will be done right the first time. LATISTA Field is a powerful web-based and mobile solution for contractors building hospitals and the owners of those hospitals as it manages inspections, automates workflows, creates documentation, and improves collaboration between all stakeholders.

Project managers, inspectors, and other field workers using LATISTA reduce their time spent in the office on retyping, creating reports, printing, filing, and emailing by 50% and can spend more time in the field as a result. In the field, these workers are 33% more effective with LATISTA. Communications with subcontractors, owners, and other stakeholders are faster and more accurate, and they can conduct more accurate inspections in less time.

LATISTA Field Addresses the Following for Hospital Projects

A Quality Management System and Process

The LATISTA system allows users to set up inspections for separate stakeholder groups, subcontractor disciplines, and project locations so the contractor can track issues and statuses in real time. QA/QC checklists and reporting provide an easy automated template to quickly see if each party is performing up to standards. This takes a large volume of paper out of the process and helps manage multiple parties as they are doing the work. If there are issues present that impact quality, all relevant parties are can see it in real time.

A System for Inspections that Document Compliance

LATISTA has developed workflows and procedures that incorporate external inspectors such as A&E firms and certified Inspectors of Record (IOR) for the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD). A detailed description of how this works is provided separately. Including these parties in the same system eliminates problem of coordinating with the GC team and rekeying large volumes of inspection information.

A Collaboration Platform for Project Stakeholders

Access to the full system or parts of the system can be set up so that all parties can work together to manage deficient or non-conforming issues quickly and efficiently. Subcontractors can view their issues through a specific web-based portal or on emailed PDFs and can alter the statuses of their work to automatically keep production moving. Owners and A&E firms view progress without having to make phone calls or read hand-collated reports, so they can participate in making decisions with all the information at their fingertips through a simple web portal.

In addition, many hospital projects use extensive BIM models for planning and design. The LATISTA solution allows parties to collaborate during production by bi-directionally transferring data and item statuses back and forth between the field and the BIM model. Inspections can be performed in the field and statuses of items can be represented in color in the BIM model showing both progress and issues that need to be addressed.

A Risk Management Solution

Hospital construction carries a significant amount of risk and as production happens, documentations and sign-offs are collected in the central server to be accessed at any later point in time. Contractors and Owners can have a permanent copy of the information for later access when questions arise.

Summary

LATISTA Field enhances productivity through automation of the work being done and tying stakeholders together around processes that are standardized. This is ideal for hospitals where high quality and compliance are essential.

It is particularly important in today’s economy that construction companies add extra value to their customers and establish strong working relationships with them. The ultimate owners and managers of a hospital will be concerned with the quality of the construction and the resulting maintenance of the building. The LATISTA Field solution not only keeps the owner and their representatives informed of quality procedures and production results, but also creates a complete chronological record of construction that can be filed with regulatory bodies or kept to avoid future liabilities.

The LATISTA Field OSHPD Solution

The LATISTA Field solution focuses on quality automation and workflows during the construction phase and can incorporate the stringent State of California OSHPD process into the system. By automating this process the documentation needed for state approval is created as the work is being done. The result is higher quality, huge time savings, and more accurate records that can be easily referenced or audited.

More information on LATISTA's OSHPD solution including workflow diagrams and examples can be found by clicking here.

LATISTA Healthcare Case Study

Barton Malow Construction completed Western Maryland Healthcare Systems’ new hospital late in 2009 and used the LATISTA Field solution collaborate on their QA/QC process, punchlist inspections and for materials tracking. As construction on the project finished, critical hospital systems were tested for pre-turnover and commissioning along with owner representatives.

Barton Malow had nine LATISTA Field users, three portable tablet PCs, and several laptops on the WMHS Medical Center. The A&E firm and Owner also had licenses to work with the team and inspect quality and turnover items.

More information about Barton Malow's use of LATISTA on the WMHS project is available on this website. Click here to read a PDF case study, or click here and log in to watch a webinar recorded with Barton Malow.