Medical Equipment Planning is not just about lists, specifications, software and drawings. It is also about understanding the human interaction that takes place in a healthcare facility.
Clinical knowledge combined with engineering skills facilitates success in healthcare. Our engineers bring technical experience relating to features, design, functionality and capability of the equipment along with the clinical applications and fields-of-use. The art of medical equipment planning and the expertise of those who provide this service are vital to the design process. Add to this the need for consideration of the culture and nature of patient care delivery in different regions of the world. Innovation, cultural knowledge, and the ability to find creative solutions is the difference between the SM&W team and all the others.
One of SM&W’s key healthcare markets is the Middle East. Our local medical equipment team is led by Ziad El Kadi. Ziad and his team are managing the medical equipment planning for several prestigious and large projects including the Al Amiri Hospital Expansion Project in Kuwait, and the WorldCare Wellness Center in Dubai. Al Amiri is located in the center of Kuwait’s capital. It includes an eleven-story building incorporating more than 400 beds connected by a fly over bridge to the existing hospital with top notch medical equipment and luxurious furnishings to serve high level officials in the state.
The WorldCare Wellness Center integrates a state of the art medical check-up clinic, and a cutting edge, evidence based holistic nutrition and fitness facility. Through its telemedicine hub located in Boston, Massachusetts, WorldCare has access to over 18,000 of the best physicians in the United States including physicians from various teaching hospitals such as Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, and The Mayo Clinic.
Al Amiri Hospital Rendering Courtesy of KEO International Consultants
Al Amiri Hospital Rendering Courtesy of KEO International Consultants
We checked in with Ziad and he gave us some insight into SM&W’s medical equipment planning team in the Middle East and his experience.
Please give some insight into your area of expertise.
We provide consulting services to help the client in their endeavor to establish or renovate a healthcare facility. As part of a larger, multidiscipline team collaborating on the design, we always ensure that the medical equipment planning component is moving in line with other members of the design team’s schedule. We provide all the information needed to all the team members as early as possible so they may understand the impact of the medical equipment on all the major disciplines involved in the design.
What is your background?
I have a Master of Science degree in Bio-medical Engineering with 26 years of extensive experience in the field. For 17 years, I worked in the on-field applications of medical equipment, installing, servicing and training physicians on the clinical applications of the equipment. For the past 9 years, I have provided consultancy services as Medical Equipment Planner / Consultant and Healthcare Projects Manager setting up Project Management Offices for large healthcare projects and supervising and reviewing the pre-requisite infrastructure requirements for medical equipment.
I have also served as the Head of a Bio-medical Engineering Department and in Facility Management in a large hospital. Through those various experiences, I am qualified in managing the executive relationship, organizing the team, structuring the work plan, completing the activities efficiently and diligently, introducing the project to the client, and reviewing the technology implications with them for the future.
How did you get into medical equipment planning?
I have 17 years’ experience in the healthcare industry, installing medical equipment, and training end-users on clinical applications. Servicing and supporting these professionals gave me vast knowledge about medical equipment from different perspectives. This helped me understand workflows in healthcare facilities, and patients’ and physicians’ views, which eventually led to a broader awareness of concepts of design and objectives. Moving from Lebanon to Dubai in 2007 was the triggering point for me in the Medical Equipment Planning field as I joined a firm known for having the largest-in-the-world medical equipment database.
How did you come to work for SM&W?
SM&W was known to me as a worldwide leading consultancy firm in the technology field. I always looked to join such a firm with emerging technology integration and knowledge. The advancement of technology is integrating all the devices to communicate with each other and establish data base conserving all the information. This is what I saw as the strength of SM&W and I always wanted to be part of this great team.
What do you consider to be your professional strengths?
My professional strengths lie in my ability to communicate with people of different cultures and backgrounds. Further, I understand the needs and requirements of the projects, team members, clients, and end-users and am able to provide the exact information they are seeking. I am particularly attentive to facilitating the implementation of the projects to ensure all the stakeholders’ goals and objectives are met.
What was the hardest project you worked on?
Every project has its own challenges. The hardest projects are renovations, where we must find ways to mitigate the effects of the existing design and adapt the medical equipment in a way to fulfill the functional program. One of the most challenging projects I can recall was a hybrid OR. The client wanted a dynamic MRI serving two interventional rooms in an already built facility. That was a real challenge for the entire team – including the architects and structural engineers. We had to meet for hours and hours to find a solution that could serve the purpose. Eventually we did it, through hard work, coordination, and communication with all the interested parties.
>>Connect with Ziad El Kadi
>>Learn more about our Dubai office
>>Learn more about our Medical Equipment Planning Discipline & Healthcare Market Sector
>>Visit the Al Amiri Hospital – Expansion project team websites: HOK & KEO International Consultants
>>Read more about Worldcare Wellness Center in Dubai
Photo Credits: Al Amiri Hospital Rendering Courtesy of KEO International Consultants
