Today we break down the stack of regulations, codes, standards and open-source literature governing the safety and sustainability of university-affiliated medical research and healthcare delivery facilities. Because of the complexity of the topic we break down our coverage:
Health 200. Survey of all relevant codes, standards, guidelines and recommended practices for healthcare settings.
Health 400. All of the above with special consideration needed for obstetrics, gynecological and neonatal clinical practice and research.
We limit our interest to systems — water, power, telecommunication and security; for example — that are unique to campus-configured, city-within-city risk aggregations. Electrotechnologies (voltage stability, static electricity control, radio-interference, etc.) in these enterprises are subtle, complex and high risk. Sample titles from legacy best practice literature in this domain are listed below:
Since our interest lies in the habitable spaces for these enterprises we usually start with a scan of the following titles:
International Building Code Section 407 (Institutional Group I-2) identifies requirements specific to healthcare settings, covering aspects such as fire safety, means of egress, and smoke compartments. Maternity and obstetric facilities within hospitals fall under this classification.
A relatively new publisher of related standards is the Facility Guidelines Institute. We are monitoring its catalog and its processes. The healthcare facility industry is likely large enough for another non-profit but we have yet to see meaningful leading practice discovery and promulgation that is unrelated to the literature that is already out there.
International Conference on Harmonization: The ICH guidelines provide guidance on the development of pharmaceuticals and related substances, including clinical trials, drug safety, and efficacy.
Good Laboratory Practice: GLP is a set of principles that ensure the quality and integrity of non-clinical laboratory studies. It ensures that data generated from non-clinical laboratory studies are reliable, valid, and accurate.
👩⚕️👩🎓 Warmest congratulations to UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems’ Higher Diploma in Midwifery group (2022-2024), who have officially completed their 18-month programme to become registered midwives 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/hixD1gT1no
— University College Dublin (@ucddublin) March 7, 2024
Safety and sustainability for any facility, not just university-affiliated healthcare facilities, usually begin with an understanding of who, and how, shall occupy the built environment. University settings, with mixed-use occupancy arising spontaneously and temporarily, often present challenges and they are generally well managed.
First principles regarding occupancy classifications for healthcare facilities appear in Section 308 of the International Building Code, Institutional Group I; linked below:
There are thousands of healthcare code compliance functionaries and instructors; most of them supported by trade associations and most of them authoritative. Hewing to our market discipline to track only the concepts that will affect university-affiliated healthcare enterprises only. There are a few noteworthy differences between corporate healthcare businesses and university affiliated healthcare enterprises (usually combined with teaching and research activity) that we identify on this collaboration platform.
We collaborate closely with the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee which takes a far more global view of the healthcare industry. That committee meets online 4 times monthly in European and American time zones.
Finally, we encourage our colleagues to participate directly in the ICC Code Development process. Contact Kimberly Paarlberg (kpaarlberg@iccsafe.org) for more information about its healthcare committees and how to participate in the ICC code development process generally. Tranches of ICC titles are developed according to the schedule below:
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One-hundred-twenty-five years ago, hardy and hard-working Finnish Lutheran immigrants founded a school in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Their lives were marked by a gritty quality captured in the Finnish term, sisu – grit and perseverance in the face of adversity. Citing financial difficulties related to demographic changes, the Board of Trustees announced that the Class of 2023 was Finlandia’s final graduating class.
“The Board of Trustees and University President Timothy Pinnow stated the extremely difficult decision is the result of an intensive analysis of Finlandia’s operations after exploring all potentially feasible strategic alternatives, including the rigorous search for new partnerships and reorganization of the institution’s finances. With financial challenges impacting liberal arts colleges throughout the country, Finlandia is no exception….
The combination of demographic changes, with fewer high school graduates available, a steep decrease in interest in going to college among those graduates, a dwindling endowment, and an unbearable debt load have made Finlandia no longer viable…
…Finlandia University has finalized eight Teach-Out Agreements with Adrian College, Bay College, Michigan Technological University, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, Northern Michigan University, University of Dubuque, Waldorf University, and Wartburg College. Several non-partnering institutions have also made commitments to supporting FinnU students in incredible ways…”
Last year, Finlandia University awarded over 3 million dollars to dreamers, achievers and future entrepreneurs. See if you qualify for Finlandia’s Rise Together Free Tuition Scholarship by visiting https://t.co/7Mbd7e6iLSpic.twitter.com/09LBPPg8cG
Question: How many households can be supplied with 1 megawatt of power and how large would the solar panel be?
The number of square meters of solar panels required to generate 1 megawatt (MW) of power depends on several factors, including the efficiency of the solar panels, the amount of sunlight available in the location where the solar panels are installed, and the specific technology used.
On average, solar panels have a conversion efficiency of about 15-20%, which means that for every square meter of solar panel area, you can expect to generate between 150 and 200 watts of power in direct sunlight.
So, to generate 1 MW of power, you would need between 5,000 and 6,667 square meters of solar panels (assuming an average efficiency of 17.5%).
There are 2.58999 square meters in one square mile.
To convert 6,667 square meters to square miles, we can divide 6,667 by 2,589.99:
6,667 sq meters / 2,589.99 sq meters/sq mile = 2.572 square miles (rounded to three decimal places).
Answer: Therefore 2.572 square miles of solar panels are required to supply 9345 household of power for 1 hour.
The number of households that can be supplied by 1 megawatt of power depends on a variety of factors, including the amount of electricity each household consumes, the time of day, and the season.
However, as a rough estimate, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that in 2020, the average US household consumed about 9,369 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year, which is equivalent to an average of 0.107 MW of power.
Based on this average, 1 MW of power could supply approximately 9,345 households (1,000,000 watts / 0.107 MW per household) with electricity for one hour, assuming that all households are consuming the average amount of electricity.
Again, this is a rough estimate, and the actual number of households that can be supplied by 1 MW will depend on various factors such as the region, the time of day, and the actual energy consumption of each household.
Discussion: A typical residential lot is one-half acre. Rounding 9345 households to 10,000 households; the households themselves have a footprint of 7.8125 square miles; with 1/3rd of the 2.572 square miles for 1 megawatt taken up by the panels.
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New update alert! The 2022 update to the Trademark Assignment Dataset is now available online. Find 1.29 million trademark assignments, involving 2.28 million unique trademark properties issued by the USPTO between March 1952 and January 2023: https://t.co/njrDAbSpwBpic.twitter.com/GkAXrHoQ9T