Sparrow Hospital was contending with an inadequate work order system, previously relying on a primarily a real estate property software and not suited for the hospital’s specialized needs. The facilities department faced significant challenges in creating their own workflows and ensuring efficient management of work orders and compliance surveys. The hospital's journey to streamline operations and enhance compliance visibility required a transition to a system that could provide real-time, customizable solutions to meet the rigorous demands of healthcare facility management.
Founded by Edward W. Sparrow in 1896, Sparrow Hospital is based in Lansing, Michigan. It is part of Sparrow Health System with 115 care sites, 6 hospitals, and 7,500 employees. It is a Level 1 trauma center.
Their mission is to improve the health of the people in our communities by providing quality, compassionate care to every patient, every time.
Around 2015, Sparrow Hospital purchased IBM’s Tririga product. The facilities department tried to use Tririga as a work order system. (Tririga is a real estate property software.) The department struggled with it for years.
The facilities department could not create their own workflows or label items as needed. The IT department was the only hospital entity allowed to make changes to the IBM system. The facilities department was tasked with explaining to IT how to build their specialized work order system.
Another hospital vendor suggested Soleran software due to its ease of use and being specifically made for healthcare facility management. The facilities team reached out to Soleran to begin the software appraisal process. They hoped to find a better work order system that would ultimately allow the facilities department the ability to create their own workflows and ensure more efficient surveys.
The Sparrow Hospital facilities team decided to go with Soleran’s Work Orders (CMMS), which includes the Compliance Survey Dashboard. Within Soleran’s Work Orders are eight core functions. The Compliance Survey Dashboard is one of those functions. It allows a healthcare facility to see its compliance status at a moment’s notice and in realtime.
Built by a former regulatory surveyor, it works with all accrediting regulatory agencies from state to NFPA to DNV to the Joint Commission. It allows for concise document review come survey time. The Sparrow Hospital facilities team saw this function as an added bonus.
Four years later with Soleran, the Sparrow Hospital facilities team is very pleased with their purchase and finally in control of their own destiny. Brent Yager, Facilities Manager said, “The biggest pro of the software is ease of use. As the Facilities Manager, I don’t have to rely on an IT person and explain every nuance of our processes. Building the PMs is easy and it just works. We are very happy with the product. I like it! I use it all the time!” They also found the work order system to show a high level of PM compliance.
“We were still printing work orders. At the end of the day, our team would have stacks of paper work orders. They would write down completed work orders, and then the team lead would file them all or close them out. Now that we have Soleran’s Work Orders system, everything is streamlined. It’s definitely increased our productivity,” explains Yager
The Sparrow Hospital facilities team utilizes Soleran’s Work Orders app daily. They are excited by how much they have benefited from other features like the Compliance Survey Dashboard. The facilities team has since had two Joint Commission surveys using the Compliance Survey Dashboard and only positive feedback.
Brent Yager mentioned, “When I put the Compliance Survey Dashboard up on the big screen for the licensure surveyor, he glanced at it and said, ‘Wow, that’s impressive! You had this organized just like we organize things. I’m so happy to see that!’. I opened up the Compliance Survey Dashboard to one of our assets for him. The surveyor just let me pick one and I hit the hyperlink. It showed the work order was complete. He said, ‘Okay, that’s great!’ It was that easy. Before using the Compliance Survey Dashboard, I exported files, made PDFs, and deposited them into my files. Now I don’t have to do that. I definitely save time using this app,” explained Yager.
Additionally, other departments are also seeing the value in the design of Soleran’s Work Order app. “I showed the compliance report to my HVAC Manager and he said, ‘Man, it’d be nice to have that for the pressure checks within five minutes.’ I dug into his PM templates and saw what he named his assets. Bang bang. We now have a new line item for that and it only took five minutes,” explained Yager.
The Sparrow Hospital team is hoping to expand use across the entire health system.
