Towards digital twins for space use in hospital real estate

Abstract

Information systems are increasingly deployed by healthcare organizations to support decision makers and users of hospitals. As a result, digital twins have recently emerged as an information system with promising application prospects. However, the limited deployment of them leads to the research gap that is addressed by the present research, which aims to answer "how can a digital twin for space use support decision makers and users of hospital real estate" and identify specifications for its development by healthcare organizations.
The research approach is conducted by deploying a design science research framework. In this framework, a literature review is carried out first by analyzing academic publications in the topics of hospital real estate management, space use in hospital real estate, digital twins for space use and digital twins for hospital real estate. Then a case study is conducted in a healthcare organization, by analyzing the organizational characteristics, the real estate portfolio, the deployed information systems for space use and the building documentation databases. This is being done through a set of interviews with employees of the organization, together with a documentation analysis. Two lists of design and utilization principles are then extracted from the literature review and the case study analysis.
The two sets of principles are utilized for the development of a conceptual design of a display of a digital twin for space use in hospitals. This display is based on a time frame window, a building orientation window, a user profile window, a building visualization window and a performance palettes window. The display is then assessed through evaluation interviews and the comprehensiveness of its design is validated. The interviewees further suggest utilization scenarios that they can perform with a similar tool.
It is eventually concluded that a digital twin can be used by different stakeholder perspectives, by providing historical, real time or simulation information at a room, floor, building or campus scale resolution to support operational, tactical and strategic utilization processes. The outcomes of this research can eventually be used by healthcare decision makers in order to develop similar tools.