Maximizing Healthcare Elevator Availability

Elevators in healthcare facilities operate in a uniquely challenging environment. Serving everything from surgical suites to helipads, meeting the needs of patients and visitors of all ages, and playing a key role in joint commission inspections and infectious disease/sterilization control, these elevators must be reliable, dependable, and deliver exceptional availability.

In many ways, the elevator is like your automobile. Preventive, planned, and predictive maintenance is critical to its operational success. Quite simply, the elevator is a mechanical vertical transportation vehicle. Reliability, safety, smooth ride, starting, and stopping are minimum expectations. For elevators in the healthcare environment, the stakes are even higher.

Like your car, the elevator needs regular maintenance and inspection to ensure proper operation. Periodic repairs, adjustments, lubrication, and replacement parts are essential. To protect your investment, a customized preventive maintenance program is also essential. It’s all about maximizing the availability of your equipment.

The prospect of downtime (or extended downtime) simply does not exist for elevators in healthcare environments – especially those serving critical units, like surgery or helipads. Routinely used to transport people in life-and-death situations, the elevator is an integral link in the transportation chain, and one as important as the ambulance or helicopter. No weak links are allowed.

That keeps expectations high. Urgency is the status quo; anything less than a rapid response time is unacceptable. Downtime and entrapments represent the worst-case scenario. If an entrapment occurs, expectations require passengers to be released in less than 60 minutes, preferably within 30 minutes.

Few buildings can match a hospital for the sheer numbers of wheels rolling over elevator thresholds. Almost every admission and dismissal involves a wheelchair. People involved with gurneys, medical equipment, IV towers, gift shop, food service, linen, and laundry carts regularly use elevators to access every corner of the property. Leveling and door operations are critically important to building operations, safety, and the overall experience for patients, employees, and visitors.

The healthcare setting is a heavily regulated environment. Joint commission inspections, infectious disease control zones, and regular equipment calibrations are standard practices and routine processes. Everything is recorded; matrices and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are tracked as carefully as a heart monitor. The same care should be applied to your elevator service program. Four key areas should be strongly considered in a proactive maintenance program:

Predictive Maintenance:

Advanced KONE solutions are designed to maximize elevator uptime in uniquely demanding healthcare environments. KONE 24/7 Connected Services monitors the elevators around the clock, identifying issues before they result in a shutdown or failure – just as preventive medicine and exams catch health issues before they cause further harm. KONE 24/7 Connected Services uses Artificial Intelligence analytics to bring intelligent services to elevators. KONE 24/7 is designed to reduce equipment downtime, reduce faults, and keep a watchful eye, providing internal information on almost every aspect of elevator operation 24 hours a day.

Our predictive analytics identify repair needs and dynamic scheduling logistics needs. Technicians can be fully informed with data and an understanding of issues before they even arrive at the job site. The end goal: increased equipment availability.

Preventive Maintenance Customized to Your Needs:

A tailored preventive service plan for each piece of equipment is the key to KONE’s proactive, technology-driven maintenance program. Not all equipment is created equal. Differences in age, usage, environment, components, type of use, and manufacturer require individually tailored service – just as in personal healthcare, where the recommended diet and exercise plan varies from person to person.

The KONE program is designed to reduce service requests and minimize equipment downtime. Careful consideration of these factors in your plan, along with dynamic scheduling and dispatching, helps create a blueprint for the quickest response times. The end goal: increased equipment availability.

Real-Time Reporting:

Through KONE Online, a dashboard is customized to the unique needs of your building and organization. Gain real-time access and transparency into your building’s operation via computer or mobile app. Real-time reports track specific KPIs: response times, shutdowns, and entrapments, as well as service requests, invoicing, and maintenance history, just like a medical check chart.

Full communication and transparency make quick response times possible. It focuses attention on elevators having issues (usage, abuse, reliability issues, common areas of failure), and the frequency of those issues. The end goal: increased equipment availability through issues being measured, monitored, and identified early, so they can be addressed quickly.

Proactive Asset Planning:

To maximize equipment uptime in the healthcare environment, the best defense is a good offense. A proactive approach to asset and capital management protects your investment and helps you plan and budget for future needs. Downtime can be scheduled to avoid peak usage periods.

Aging equipment can be both unreliable and costly. If the equipment has not been updated on a regular basis, problems can compound quickly. Unscheduled repairs can be costly to repair and maintain, especially if needed parts are obsolete or difficult to source, and can cause extended delays. The end result: a proactive asset plan helps increase equipment availability.

In the end, it’s all about optimizing your patient’s safety and experience. Through the four key areas described above, the KONE performance-based maintenance system helps achieve these goals. Preventive maintenance and periodic updates are your best protection against unplanned shutdowns and costly, time-consuming repairs.

Reliable, dependable equipment helps optimize the overall experience for employees, patients, and visitors in your building. This is an important consideration today when social media reviews are not limited to restaurants and hotels. It takes time to build a good reputation, but that reputation can be quickly erased by just one negative review. A proactive approach to maintenance and capital management is the smart solution.

^{The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice. While we strive to provide accurate and up-to-date information, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, or suitability of the information contained herein for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk. We are not liable for any losses, injuries, or damages resulting from the display or use of this information. Always consult with a qualified professional or service provider regarding specific elevator maintenance practices, healthcare compliance requirements, or any other professional matters related to your facility.}