Another view of the market

Given Health Facilities Management's broad readership and the high degree of collaboration required for even the most routine hospital design, construction and operation decisions, it's always been one of our objectives to cover our editorial subjects from the viewpoints of as many industry participants as possible.

Thus, an article on patient rooms might discuss the roles of the architect and medical equipment planner as well as those of the IT department and clinical staff. Similarly, a story on hospital flooring might cover issues of importance to interior designers and facilities managers as well as infection control practitioners and environmental services professionals.

In fact, about the only industry players we haven't covered as extensively as possible have been the manufacturers of design materials, capital equipment and maintenance products. Consequently, this issue sees the debut of our "Marketplace" feature which was developed to provide insights from the vendor community on how products they're developing address health care's greatest challenges.

Each month, "Marketplace" will explore a different segment of the health care manufacturing industry by offering a multisource examination of trends in product development and how they will impact those working outside and inside the nation's hospitals. Each article will also feature large images and Web links to enable readers to examine products in even greater detail.

Starting this month with cleaning products, and moving on to furniture, flooring, plumbing, lighting, HVAC and a broad array of other subject areas, "Marketplace" will bring a new perspective to our multifocal look at hospital design, construction and operations. So, please turn to Page 32 to see how it all begins.