Proper planning ensures facilities have a reliable, resilient medical gas system to provide essential care.
Engineers work closely with healthcare facilities and take great pride in designing systems that provide critical life support for patients and enable healthcare workers to provide top-of-the-line care. Medical gas systems need to support the current programming requirements of a facility and be flexible enough to adapt and support the constantly changing environments they serve.
Straining Systems
The COVID-19 pandemic was a wakeup call for the healthcare industry and emphasized the importance of a resilient infrastructure. During the height of COVID-19, the industry saw a major strain on medical gas systems, particularly oxygen and medical air, as healthcare providers were pushing the limits of systems and using medical gases at rates never before seen.
Healthcare organizations also housed patients in areas of the hospital not intended for critical-care patient use. As a result, many healthcare facilities were left scrambling to determine the number of patients they could accommodate and how far they could push their source equipment before hitting the failure point.
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To read the full article, visit Healthcare Facilities Today.
About the Authors
Ryan Hunwardsen, ASSE 6060, is mechanical engineering designer at HGA in Minneapolis.
Ray Schwalbe, PE, is a mechanical engineer at HGA in Milwaukee.
Jill Imig, PE, EDAC, is Mechanical Engineering Department Leader at HGA in Milwaukee.