(8/15/2018)

 
Each summer, Medxcel executives look forward to participating in the ASHE Annual Conference and Technical Exhibition. This year they travelled to Seattle to attend the 56th annual conference July 14-17. This conference, held by The American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE), gives major healthcare facility management and engineering professionals a platform to brainstorm, share ideas, and network. Not only did Medxcel executives attend the ASHE Annual Conference, they gave two presentations and participated in an expert panel regarding the optimization of healthcare facilities’ physical environments. Learn more about their three presentations below.

ASHE-logo-(1).pngData, Communication and Associate Engagement:  The critical path to successful partnerships inside (and outside) your healthcare facility
 


Presented by: Jennefer Pursifull, Vice President of Marketing and Sales, and Damian Skelton, Area Vice President
 
Subject matter experts Jennefer and Damian shared how to engage and empower associates so they do much more than a job – such as increase productivity, develop efficiencies and ultimately create organization-wide value for the facilities department. Communication is the key to a successful program, as well as tracking and reporting data, but this is often the part associates and facilities teams struggle with the most.
 
This presentation covered everything from tools used to maintain a consistent and effective level of communication, to information on resources for facilities associates, to how to curate and report data to healthcare facilities leadership. Equipping associates with the right tools and data can help increase the satisfaction and value of a facilities department throughout the entire organization. To learn more about this topic, download our whitepaper: 3 Components to High-Performing Healthcare Facilities: Data, Communication & Engagement.
 
Building a Brand through Owner Standards and Specifications
 
Presented by: Heidi Fentress, EDAC, IIDA, Interior Design Manager, Medxcel Planning Design and Construction, and Cheryl Stoddard, MEM, GCPM, Director, Facilities & Construction Contracting, The Resource Group
 
Together with Cheryl Stoddard, Medxcel Interior Design Manager Heidi Fentress shared her expertise on building a brand through implementing owner standards, learning from mistakes, establishing sourcing and procurement standards, and what elements are essential to a brand. Heidi and Cheryl discussed how facility management teams must provide consistent experiences for patients based on best practices put in place by the leaders, while leaders should understand challenges that come with creating standards for many health facilities and going from multiple health systems to one unified brand.
 
Stressing the importance of creating brand standards, Heidi and Cheryl noted that establishing performance specifications based on best practices, collaborating with key stakeholders, and creating a polished, physical environment for patients are key.
 
Managing Behavioral Health Patient Safety: Suicide, self-harm and ligature risk assessments
 
Panelists: Sue Andersen, Ph.D., CHSP, CEDP, EMTP, EMSIC, national director of emergency management, EC and safety, Medxcel Facilities Management; Kathy Tolomeo, CHEM, CHSP, director of compliance strategies safety, security and emergency management, JLL Healthcare Solutions; David Sine, DrBE, CSP, CPHRM, ARM, chief risk officer, Veterans Health Administration; and Kathryn Petrovic, MSN, RN-BC, senior associate director, Standards Interpretation, The Joint Commission
 
This panel of experts, including Medxcel director Sue Andersen, discussed the importance of a multidisciplinary team to complete risk assessment, including assessing ligature, self-harm and suicide risks. Additionally, they shared experiences of multiple surveys by The Joint Commission (TJC). These shared experiences included information on a wide range of findings during surveys from low, medium, high and Immediate Threat to Life (ITL) on TJC SAFER Matrix.
 
For example, earlier this year one surveyor took a piece of dental floss, hung it over a door hinge and said, “That’s a ligature point.” Every facility has doors with hinges, and that’s likely not going to change, but by adapting regulatory processes within a facility, you can ensure a safe and compliant healing environment. Developing a plan, process and procedures within a healthcare facility can eliminate the risk of citations regarding ligatures, self-harm and suicide.
 
We’re glad Medxcel executives have a platform to share their expertise on healthcare facilities management with fellow professionals and network with them at conferences. All of the topics discussed at the conference are crucial to a successful healthcare facility, and we continue to enlighten healthcare professionals on how to create the best environment for patients. We look forward to the 57th ASHE Annual Conference in 2019. To learn more about this topic, download our whitepaper: Addressing Ligature and Suicide Risks in Healthcare Facilities.

Interested in learning more about these subjects or how your facility could benefit from working with Medxcel? Contact us.