A Decision Support System for Hospital Configurations in Construction Projects

Hospitals are complex buildings and their functionality is essential for patient healthcare. Definition, verification and implementation of accurate configuration information during construction projects are therefore essential. The purpose of this study was to develop a decision support system by establishing a value chain of configuration information with an end-to-end perspective. The approach of this study was explorative, investigating how building data can support construction projects in making hospital configuration decisions. A literature review provided a knowledge base about the configuration decision process flow, which determined the prerequisites for the proposed data and model management. Exchange and relationships of required building data were ensured by using Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) and a database model, respectively. The results show that using building model data for configuration decision support is feasible. A case study compared data exchanged in three construction projects of Magnetic Resonance Imaging rooms to those identified in the decision support system. Operational gaps regarding data exchange in the studied cases indicate what changes are required in current data collection and management. The contribution of this study is filling a research gap regarding end-to-end information management to support hospital configuration decisions in construction projects.