The role of materiel management in effective equipment planning.

Capital equipment acquisition commonly occurs in hospitals as part of the routine annual budgeting process, one with which materiels executives are familiar. However, when faced with a major construction or renovation project, there are special issues related to capital equipment acquisition that materiels executives must consider. The major phases in project management include: predesign, schematic design, design development, construction document preparation, bidding, construction, occupancy, and postoccupancy phases. As such projects don't occur as frequently, the details of these processes and the role of the materiels executive is described here. This includes a discussion of project-related equipment planning and project-related capital acquisition.