Interim sterilization processing facility keeps surgeries — and construction — on track

Although the patent-pending sterilization processing department is being used as an interim solution, it is built to last for the next 50 years.

Photo courtesy of RAD Technology Medical Systems

Swedish Medical Center's First Hill Campus, Seattle, faced the difficult challenge of continuing to perform surgeries after losing its sterilization processing department when the aging facility in which it was located was demolished.

Demolition was required for Swedish to start construction of a new replacement tower that is a key part of an ongoing campus upgrade. But without a sterilization processing department, surgeries would stop in the existing hospital.

RAD Technology Medical Systems LLC, Aventura, Fla., solved the problem by building an interim facility for the medical center’s sterilization processing department next to the existing surgical suite. 

RAD partnered with Steris Corp., Mentor, Ohio, a leading provider of infection prevention and surgical products and services, to ensure that the interim facility was equipped with the necessary sterilization equipment.  

The hospital worked with Steris to supply appropriate washing, decontamination and sterilization equipment, such as autoclaves.

Photo courtesy of RAD Technology Medical Systems

Though the project had a tight timeline, RAD and its factory-fabricated construction method enabled Swedish to relocate the sterilization processing services and still stay on schedule to build the new tower.

While construction took place in RAD’s factory, Steris supplied the appropriate washing, decontamination and sterilization equipment required to support all the sterile processing needs of the Swedish surgical staff during the construction project.

To save time, RAD and Steris coordinated to ensure that most of the equipment was installed while the two-story, 12,000-square-foot modular facility was built at a factory in Aumsville, Ore., and shipped to the site on trucks.   

The concrete and steel building meets the same codes as a permanent structure, including Seattle energy codes, according to RAD Technology.  

"While the structure is intended to serve an interim need, the facility is built as if it were to be used for 50 years,” says RAD architect George Olear.

“While mobile trailer solutions have been used to replace individual pieces of sterilization equipment, the challenge of replacing an entire department for multiple years needed a new approach," he says.  

RAD, with help from STERIS, was able to meet Swedish Medical Center’s time frame and provide a convenient solution for its sterilization needs in close proximity to their surgical suite.

Swedish began construction last year on the new hospital tower, which the health system is calling the most significant and complex project undertaken by Swedish in the past several decades.

The Northwest Tower will be approximately 17 stories and will include an emergency department, dining facility, critical care units, surgical suites and patient rooms and a permanent sterilization processing department.

The new tower, which is projected to open in 2019, is part of the health system’s plan to replace aging structures on the campus, some of which date to 1925. 

RAD Technology Medical Systems is a pioneer in building factory-fabricated, modular structures for the health care market and uses patented solutions for a variety of medical specialties.