Identification of hospital objects to design the transformability of hospital systems - a factory planning approach for hospitals

Hospitals are facing the challenges of a turbulent environment. External influences such as cost pressures and changing disease patterns limit their actual performance and frequently pose challenges to their regular operations. Manufacturing companies face similar challenges. To counter external influences and adapt quickly and cost-effectively to changes in the environment, factory planning utilises transformability as a key strategy. Transformability describes the ability of a system to actively implement structural changes with little effort and thus adapt to changing requirements. However, the design of transformability cannot be carried out for the entire system, but is realised on the basis of individual system objects, in this case factory objects. In order for hospitals to be able to position themselves in a transformable way, hospital objects are needed in analogy to factory objects. The aim of this paper is to identify those hospital objects in which a change process is possible or which can influence such a process. In order to identify these hospital objects, a search space is first created using defined system levels and design fields, on the basis of which the hospital objects can then be identified and systematised. This work thus provides a basis for operationalizing transformability in hospitals and contributes to securing the future of the healthcare system.