Development of guiding principles based on factory planning for the design of flow-oriented hospitals with changeable spatial, technical and organizational concepts (MedFAP)

• Applicants: Professor Dr.-Ing. Kunibert Lennerts; Professor Dr.-Ing. Peter Nyhuis
• Subject Area: Production Systems, Operations Management, Quality Management and Factory Planning
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 456684366

Hospital treatments can only be efficient and effective if the processes and structures are designed to be economical and future-proof. However, many hospitals have been in a poor economic situation for years and have been facing serious cost and competition problems. The processes in hospitals have grown historically and do not run optimally. In many sections, the functional areas are arranged according to formalistic criteria and less likely flow- and use-oriented. Therefore, an essential step towards the economic improvement of the clinical value-added chain is the development of a flow-oriented hospital by aligning the ideal layout with the treatment process. Planning concepts in the hospital sector must also be designed future-proof, since hospitals are situated in a similarly turbulent environment as industrial production. Many existing hospital buildings have yet a large maintenance backlog and are architecturally unsuitable to withstand permanent change. In most cases, they represent a solution approach which is absolute and tailored to the ideas of the respective hospital management and not capable of development. In order to prepare hospitals for the future, the building structures and their technical infrastructure, as well as the internal organisation must be planned in a changeable way in order to meet the requirements. The described challenges in hospital planning cannot be met adequately using the existing methods and tools. Up to now, there is no approach for the specific implementation of flow orientation and changeability. Although layout planning defines the degree of process efficiency by determining the travel times, flow orientation in hospitals cannot be implemented in a targeted and holistic manner yet. In contrast to changeability, the common concept of flexibility does not offer sufficient potential to make hospitals permanently future-proof. Therefore, the overall objective of the research project is the development of guiding principles as planning support for a flow-oriented structure and layout as well as for the design of changeable functional areas and rooms in hospitals. For this purpose, the proven approach as well as the repeatedly evaluated methods for the systematic analysis and planning of factories are taken up and adapted in the context of the hospital system. Accordingly, the planned research project consists of a concept planning for the design of the hospital in its entirety considering the flow orientation, as well as the detailed planning for the more in-depth design of the objects with focus on the changeability of the planned hospital.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants