Hospital activation: towards a process model

Activation is the process of preparing people, equipment and facilities for moving and start-up. It is little understood, but integral to the success of facility. It starts well before and extends beyond the phases of commissioning and start-up. Activation is described in six stages as it interacts with the traditional facility delivery cycle: long-range planning; prioritization budgeting; facility planning design; facility completion; Operation; and criteria update post-occupancy evaluation. The outcome was a two-volume, "user-friendly" Activation Guide that describes activation for large complex projects in a straightforward way, and which is being used by the 172 major hospitals of the Department of Veterans Affairs in the USA. The process is generic and it could be adapted for use in activations of complex facilities in Europe.