Health-Care Facilities

VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER, Nashville, Tenn.

Retrofit Team

FAUCET INSTALLER: VUMC Plumbing Shop

Materials

When Vanderbilt University Medical Center, or VUMC, needed new faucets, representatives wanted a product that would help promote a hygiene-friendly handwashing process while standing up to a high-traffic environment. VUMC also wanted a product that was easy to maintain while enabling the facilities team to become smarter water managers.

Sloan’s Optima faucets touch-free ability cuts down on cross-contamination. Installed throughout public restrooms and nurses’ stations, the faucets improve the handwashing process for patients and caregivers alike. With 2 million annual patient visits, in addition to onsite medical staff, Sloan’s faucets are subjected to plenty of wear and tear.

VUMC specified more than 500 Sloan ETF-80 Optima hardwired deck-mounted faucets as the new standard for the entire facility. Not only do Sloan’s redesigned faucets feature an underdeck Optima Control Box that reduces the service time needed by VUMC’s facilities team, but the maintenance staff is also able to remotely monitor each individual faucet through the Sloan Connect App. The team conducts a weekly check-in to assess flow rates on specific fixtures throughout the facility, and the data has allowed the team to adjust flow rates accordingly.

“Sloan’s faucets have proven to be very effective,” says Randy Howington, VUMC’s plumbing shop manager. “They are high performing, and they have the ability to give us an understanding of how our faucets are performing at an exact moment.”

FAUCET MANUFACTURER: Sloan

The Retrofit

VUMC is one of the largest academic medical centers in the Southeast. With its adult and children’s hospitals consistently ranked in U.S. News & World Report ’s Best Hospitals, VUMC is the primary resource for specialty and primary care in hundreds of adult and pediatric specialties throughout Tennessee and the Mid-South.

PHOTOS: Sloan