Relocation of hospital facilities: guidelines for resilient performance

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Organizational Resilience
• Complex Systems

Background:

• Hospital unit relocation is a complex process requiring formal planning and informal adaptation.
• Existing guidelines for facility relocation are fragmented and not readily accessible.
• This research addresses the need for comprehensive guidance on hospital relocation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop practical guidelines for resilient hospital facility relocation.
• To provide a framework for managing unexpected events during relocation.
• To leverage organizational resilience principles for effective facility moves.

Main Methods:

• The study involved relocating a surgical unit to a significantly larger facility (400% increase).
• Data collection included interviews with leadership, observations of committee meetings, and facility tours.
• Thematic analysis and inductive reasoning were used to develop the guidelines.

Main Results:

• Seventeen guidelines for resilient hospital facility relocation were developed.
• All guidelines are proactive, designed for implementation before the relocation.
• The guidelines operationalize principles of resilient performance, focusing on slack resources and learning opportunities.

Conclusions:

• The proposed guidelines offer new, prescriptive knowledge for hospital relocation.
• The guidelines are explicitly linked to the perspective of organizational resilience.
• These findings are highly relevant for hospital managers overseeing relocation projects.