IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i12p9204-d1165570.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Medical Gas Systems Maintainability Risks in Healthcare Facilities: A Design Optimization Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Hassan Alassafi

    (Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh 4545, Saudi Arabia)

  • Khalid S. Al-Gahtani

    (Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh 4545, Saudi Arabia)

  • Abdulmohsen S. Almohsen

    (Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh 4545, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

Medical gas pipeline systems (MGPSs) are crucial for operating healthcare facilities as life-saving systems. The sustainability of MGPSs mandates optimum performance by reducing maintenance and repairs. Since faulty design is inventible, healthcare facilities endure several design-caused maintenance issues that endanger the sustainability of healthcare services and maintenance life cycle costs. These design decisions could have been avoided if proper consideration for maintenance had been applied. Eleven experts participated in semi-structured interviews guided by Staticized Group Techniques to identify and evaluate the maintenance issues. The results included identifying 52 design-related maintenance issues that pose maintainability risks. The findings primarily fall under emergency gas supply availability, future expansion readiness, and accessibility of maintenance. The most critical issue found is the excessive cutting-outs of the pipelines when upgrading the system. For new healthcare facilities, the results of this research provide practical help for designers to avoid MGPS issues. A scarcity of benchmark research and geographical factors are some limitations to this study.

Suggested Citation

  • Hassan Alassafi & Khalid S. Al-Gahtani & Abdulmohsen S. Almohsen, 2023. "Medical Gas Systems Maintainability Risks in Healthcare Facilities: A Design Optimization Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-16, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:12:p:9204-:d:1165570
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/12/9204/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/12/9204/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Farouq Halawa & Sreenath Chalil Madathil & Alice Gittler & Mohammad T. Khasawneh, 2020. "Advancing evidence-based healthcare facility design: a systematic literature review," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 453-480, September.
    2. Rowe, Gene & Wright, George, 1999. "The Delphi technique as a forecasting tool: issues and analysis," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 353-375, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Prommer, Lisa & Tiberius, Victor & Kraus, Sascha, 2020. "Exploring the future of startup leadership development," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    2. Bas Kolen & Matthijs Kok & Ira Helsloot & Bob Maaskant, 2013. "EvacuAid: A Probabilistic Model to Determine the Expected Loss of Life for Different Mass Evacuation Strategies During Flood Threats," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(7), pages 1312-1333, July.
    3. Meissner, Philip & Brands, Christian & Wulf, Torsten, 2017. "Quantifiying blind spots and weak signals in executive judgment: A structured integration of expert judgment into the scenario development process," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 244-253.
    4. Fabio Salamanca-Buentello & Mary V Seeman & Abdallah S Daar & Ross E G Upshur, 2020. "The ethical, social, and cultural dimensions of screening for mental health in children and adolescents of the developing world," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-25, August.
    5. Prianto Budi Saptono & Gustofan Mahmud & Intan Pratiwi & Dwi Purwanto & Ismail Khozen & Muhamad Akbar Aditama & Siti Khodijah & Maria Eurelia Wayan & Rina Yuliastuty Asmara & Ferry Jie, 2023. "Development of Climate-Related Disclosure Indicators for Application in Indonesia: A Delphi Method Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-25, July.
    6. Heiskanen, Aleksi & Hurmekoski, Elias & Toppinen, Anne & Näyhä, Annukka, 2022. "Exploring the unknowns – State of the art in qualitative forest-based sector foresight research," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    7. Lin, Tun & De Guzman, Franklin, 2007. "Tourism for pro-poor and sustainable growth: economic analysis of tourism projects," MPRA Paper 24994, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Di Zio, Simone & Bolzan, Mario & Marozzi, Marco, 2021. "Classification of Delphi outputs through robust ranking and fuzzy clustering for Delphi-based scenarios," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    9. Litsiou, Konstantia & Polychronakis, Yiannis & Karami, Azhdar & Nikolopoulos, Konstantinos, 2022. "Relative performance of judgmental methods for forecasting the success of megaprojects," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 1185-1196.
    10. Philip Rogiers & Stijn Viaene & Jan Leysen, 2020. "The digital future of internal staffing: A vision for transformational electronic human resource management," Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(4), pages 182-196, October.
    11. Yaniv, Ilan, 2011. "Group diversity and decision quality: Amplification and attenuation of the framing effect," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 41-49.
    12. Alyami, Saleh. H. & Rezgui, Yacine & Kwan, Alan, 2013. "Developing sustainable building assessment scheme for Saudi Arabia: Delphi consultation approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 43-54.
    13. Arkadiusz Wisniowski & Nico Keilman & Jakub Bijak & Solveig Christiansen & Jonathan J. Forster & Peter W.F Smith & James Raymer, 2012. "Augmenting migration statistics with expert knowledge," Norface Discussion Paper Series 2012005, Norface Research Programme on Migration, Department of Economics, University College London.
    14. Ngoy Kabemba S. & Mwiya Balimu & Mwanaumo Erastus & Chisumbe Sampa & Petere Gaida, 2023. "Factors Influencing Professional Indemnity Insurance Use in Construction Risk Management," Baltic Journal of Real Estate Economics and Construction Management, Sciendo, vol. 11(1), pages 199-220, January.
    15. van Asselt, E.D. & Meuwissen, M.P.M. & van Asseldonk, M.A.P.M. & Sterrenburg, P. & Mengelers, M.J.B. & van der Fels-Klerx, H.J., 2011. "Approach for a pro-active emerging risk system on biofuel by-products in feed," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 421-429, June.
    16. Makkonen, Mari & Pätäri, Satu & Jantunen, Ari & Viljainen, Satu, 2012. "Competition in the European electricity markets – outcomes of a Delphi study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 431-440.
    17. Georg Aichholzer, 2002. "Das ExpertInnen-Delphi: methodische Grundlagen und Anwendungsfeld ‘Technology Foresight‘ (The Expert Delphi: Methodology and Application in 'Technology Foresight')," ITA manu:scripts 02_01, Institute of Technology Assessment (ITA).
    18. Hayes, Tom, 2007. "Delphi study of the future of marketing of higher education," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(9), pages 927-931, September.
    19. Ying Zhou & Weiwei Li & Pingtao Yi & Chengju Gong, 2019. "Evaluation of City Sustainability from the Perspective of Behavioral Guidance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-17, November.
    20. Daniel Reißmann & Daniela Thrän & Alberto Bezama, 2018. "Key Development Factors of Hydrothermal Processes in Germany by 2030: A Fuzzy Logic Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-20, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:12:p:9204-:d:1165570. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.