FM in Healthcare
Facility Management in Healthcare: highly complex and highly stimulating.

Our research focal point “FM in Healthcare” focuses on stakeholder-centric management of non-medical support services in healthcare organisations.
Depending on the setting, we take part as a partner in a research project, as advisors in a service contract or we include students within student projects. Our procedures are holistic, interlinked and systematic with the goal to develop practice-oriented and applicable solutions.
Our Projects
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Playful support for digital change in care or nursing homes
ImaginEd is a simulation game for supporting digital change in schools. We want to explore the extent to which the game is suitable for use in retirement/nursing homes (APHs) and what needs to be adapted for specific contexts, so that APHs can also be supported.
ongoing, 03/2025 - 02/2026
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RobotCare – User experience in development of service robots for elderly care
Objectives of the project: Establish a systematic dialogue between the technology developers and researchers and the elderly/healthcare institution stakeholders (including medical, care, and service personnel, management, patients, and their families) in both regions and develop a suitable…
ongoing, 09/2024 - 08/2025
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Improving the well-being of residents in care homes by making catering services more flexible with the help of technology
It was known from previous projects that catering services in retirement and nursing homes are currently strongly geared towards working hours and the presence of employees. With the increasing individualisation of society, it can be assumed that future residents will demand more flexible catering…
completed, 10/2022 - 01/2023
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DIGINUT – Comprehensive Digitalisation of Patient Nutrition Uptake in Health Care
completed, 10/2021 - 04/2022
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DC4HC – Digital Competence for Healthcare
The Innosuisse project, Digital Competence for Healthcare (DC4HC), aims to develop a digital platform that will support Swiss healthcare institutions in their digital transformation efforts. In particular, the focus of DC4HC is on the non-medical support services.A state-of-the-art digital maturity…
completed, 09/2021 - 04/2023
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Healing architecture in mental health-care facilities
Systematic literature review on users’ health & well-being in inpatient mental health-care facilities.
completed, 04/2020 - 12/2021
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Cleaning Isolation rooms used by Covid-19 patients
The Institute for Facility Management (IFM), together with stakeholders from the healthcare and cleaning sectors has produced a series of training videos on cleaning the isolation rooms used by COVID-19 patients.To train cleaners on how to clean isolation rooms with COVID-19 patients and ensure…
completed, 03/2020 - 05/2020
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Data-driven decision support for intracranial aneurysms and hospital catering using Bayesian networks
Clinical decisions in medicine and management decisions in facility management are regularly made on the basis of little evidence or extrapolations and are also influenced by subjective and economic aspects. While data is generated exponentially in medicine due to increasing digitization, there is…
completed, 03/2020 - 12/2021
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Determining the strategic need for action in the digitalization of hospitals on a normative, strategic and operational level
Increasing cost pressure and the required competitiveness are forcing Swiss hospitals to optimize their non-medical processes, in particular regarding efficiency and productivity. Digitalization introduces new opportunities for transforming business processes that meet future health policy…
completed, 02/2020 - 11/2020
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SmartCareNet
Preliminary study for the development of an Integrated IoT Management System for a comprehensive, infrastructural monitoring of elderly care home facilities and Smart Homes
completed, 03/2019 - 01/2020
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Data analysis as a basis for the development of a KPI system for non-medical support services in hospitals
completed, 01/2019 - 01/2020
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Platform Health
Researchers from the School of Life Sciences and Facility Management (LSFM) initiated a platform to promote interdisciplinary research in the field of health. The School of LSFM supports this initiative to increase visibility of all health-research related activities in teaching, R&D, continued…
completed, 11/2018 - 12/2020
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Standardized Room Categories in Hospitals (RakaS)
completed, 04/2018 - 06/2019
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AALBridge
Smart Solutions in Transitional Care in Swiss Healthcare
completed, 03/2018 - 11/2018
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Digital Services as part of the non-medical support services in hospitals
completed, 08/2017 - 02/2019
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Facility Management & BIM in Hospitals
How BIM positively influences FM's strategic services and enables FM-compliant planning decisions
completed, 06/2016 - 09/2017
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ActiveAdvice
Decision Support for Independent Living
completed, 05/2016 - 11/2018
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Project Management in Hospitals
The importance of Project Management (PM) in hospitals is growing due to the increasing amalgamation of disciplines in conjunction with the need for greater efficiency and quality of services in hospitals. Current experience in hospital projects and conversations with people involved in hospital…
completed, 05/2016 - 06/2017
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Facility Management goes independently: SLA Good Practice for Facility Management in Healthcare
Up until now, work in hospitals has been carried out more or less when called upon and rarely on the basis of systematic, written Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Due to increasing cost pressures and the resulting need for greater efficiency and quality in healthcare, the topic of SLAs is becoming…
completed, 11/2015 - 06/2019
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Implementation of BIM for a new building - cantonal hospital Baden
completed, 11/2015 - 12/2016
Our publications
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2020.
Auf dem steinigen Weg zum Kennzahlensystem-Gipfel.
Heime und Spitäler.
Available from: https://www.heimeundspitaeler.ch/news/news-details/auf-dem-steinigen-weg-zum-kennzahlensystem-gipfel
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2020.
Wädenswil:
ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-21154
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Pericin Häfliger, Irina; Hofer, Susanne; Hofmann, Thomas; et al.,
2020.
Reinigung von Isolationszimmern bei Covid-19.
Netzwerk Reinigungsstandard Covid-19 c/o ZHAW.
Available from: https://www.zhaw.ch/ifm/covid-reinigung
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Gerber, Nicole; Kirecchi, Ilyas,
2020.
Kennzahlensystem für nicht-medizinische Leistungen in Spitälern (KensyS) : Grundlagendokumentation.
Wädenswil:
ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-19745
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de Sousa, Rita Tavares; Teles, Soraia; Bertel, Diotima; Schmitter, Paul; Abrantes, Diogo,
2020.
Advisory on ambient assisted living solutions : towards an advisor concept and training curriculum.
In:
Ziefle, Martina; Maciaszek, Leszek A., eds.,
Information and communication technologies for ageing well and e-health.
Cham:
Springer.
pp. 41-61.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52677-1_3
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