「英中对照」从陆军军官到医疗设施管理领军者：达拉斯德克萨斯大学西南医学中心克莱门茨大学医院设施总监史蒂夫·史密斯的职业历程

Clements University Hospital Director of Facilities Steve Smith places priority on patients and staff.克莱门茨大学医院设施总监史蒂夫·史密斯将患者和员工放在首位。

Steve Smith has learned a thing or two about putting out fires during nearly 16 years working at one of the most prominent medical complexes in Texas. 史蒂夫·史密斯在得克萨斯州最著名的医疗园区之一工作了近16年，对“救火”颇有心得。

But before entering a career in healthcare, Smith once literally fought fires — as an officer in the United States Army when local firefighters struggled to contain wildfires that broke out in eastern Washington and Idaho during the 1990s. 但在进入医疗行业之前，史密斯曾真的扑灭过火灾——作为美国陆军军官，20世纪90年代华盛顿州东部和爱达荷州爆发野火、当地消防员难以控制火势时，他参与了扑救。

“They were overwhelmed, so they called on the military for help,” Smith says. “They were running out of people, so we got trained up and we deployed for almost a month fighting fires.” “他们不堪重负，于是向军方求助，”史密斯说。“他们人手越来越少，所以我们接受了培训，部署了近一个月去灭火。”

“Putting out fires” is a phrase that’s almost as old as the facility management profession. It serves as an industry catch-all to describe the many duties that managers are tasked with daily – typically and seemingly, all at once, and often unexpectedly. “救火”这个说法几乎与设施管理行业一样历史悠久。它是业内一个笼统的说法，用来描述管理人员每天承担的众多职责——通常而且似乎所有事情同时涌来，而且往往出人意料。

Through a career that started in the Army and continues at a consistently expanding medical center, Smith has been trained to learn that anything at any time is possible in the career that he’s chosen. 史密斯的职业生涯始于陆军，如今在一家不断扩张的医疗中心继续发展；他早已认识到，在自己选择的职业中，任何事情都有可能在任何时间发生。

“It’s definitely not a 7:30 to 4 job at all,” he says of facility management. “I don’t think any facility manager, I don’t care what kind of place you're running, is that way. But healthcare is 24/7/365, so my phone rings quite a bit.” “这绝对不是一份七点半到四点的工作，”他谈到设施管理时说。“我认为任何设施经理都不是这样，不管你管理的是什么场所。但医疗行业是全年无休、每天24小时运转的，所以我的电话经常响。”

Molded in the military 军旅生涯的锤炼

Adjusting on the fly isn’t new to Smith, the director of facilities at Clements University Hospital at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. 对于达拉斯得克萨斯大学西南医学中心克莱门茨大学医院的设施总监史密斯来说，随机应变并不陌生。

Smith grew up in a military family, so he was used to adapting to new areas to live and meeting people from all walks of life. He likes to say he’s a 30-year military veteran, including the 20 or so years he moved around with his family before enlisting. 史密斯在军人家庭长大，所以他习惯了适应新的居住环境、结识各行各业的人。他喜欢说自己是一位有30年军龄的老兵，其中包括入伍前随家人四处搬迁的大约20年。

After eight years in the Army and rising to the level of battalion staff operations officer, he transitioned into civilian life. He served from 1991 to 1999, a relatively peaceful time as the first Desert Storm was ending and he transitioned out before 9/11, so his duties involved lots of training and preparing for any future conflicts. 在陆军服役八年后，他晋升至营部作战参谋，随后转入平民生活。他于1991年至1999年服役，那是一段相对和平的时期，第一次海湾战争即将结束，而他在9·11事件之前就已退伍，因此他的职责涉及大量训练以及为未来可能发生的冲突做准备。

While his military duties did not translate into civilian life, the leadership skills he gained as an officer set him on a path to his current role. 虽然他的军事职责无法直接应用于平民生活，但他作为军官所获得的领导能力为他走向当前职位铺平了道路。

“It’s the best leadership training program out there,” Smith says of the Army. “I think it teaches you a lot about diversity, working with different people from different backgrounds. I think everybody should do at least some time in the military.” “那是最好的领导力培训项目，”史密斯这样评价陆军。“我认为它能教会你很多关于多元化的东西，学会与不同背景的人共事。我觉得每个人都应该至少在军队服役一段时间。”

After leaving, Smith worked in the private sector for almost 10 years as a service operations manager responsible for upgrading and maintaining automation control systems. One of his clients happened to be a familiar name, a relationship that paid off a few months later when a reorganization left Smith looking for a job. 退伍后，史密斯在私营部门工作了近10年，担任服务运营经理，负责自动化控制系统的升级和维护。他的一个客户恰好是个熟悉的名字，几个月后一次重组让史密斯需要找工作时，这段关系派上了用场。

“One of my customers was UT Southwestern, so I put in an application, interviewed, and was in their controls department and project management team under utilities,” he says. “我的一个客户是UT Southwestern，所以我提交了申请、参加了面试，然后进入了他们公用事业部门下的控制部门和项目管理团队，”他说。

He was with the utilities department for a few years before moving over to Clements hospital, where he’s been ever since – first as manager of facilities before rising to his current position of director in 2018. 他在公用事业部门工作了几年，之后调到克莱门茨医院，并一直工作至今——起初担任设施经理，2018年晋升至现任总监职位。

Role in expansion 在扩张中的角色

Clements is part of a 15-million-square-foot medical complex that includes patient care hospitals, a research center and a medical school. Smith’s responsibility is the Clements hospital, an acute care facility where he manages 70 facilities employees. 克莱门茨是一个总建筑面积达1500万平方英尺的医疗综合体的一部分，该综合体包括多家诊疗医院、一家研究中心和一所医学院。史密斯负责克莱门茨医院，这是一家急症护理机构，他在那里管理着70名设施部门员工。 

“We’re dealing with the sickest of the sick,” he says of Clements. “If you go to some of the more regional hospitals, if they cannot figure out what their patient’s ailment is, a lot of times they will refer them to us. We have the research arm, and we have the academic arm, to bring together a whole lot more resources than you would find at a typical hospital.” “我们收治的是重病中最重的患者，”他谈到克莱门茨时说。“如果你去一些更偏区域性的医院，他们查不出患者得的是什么病，很多时候就会把患者转给我们。我们有研究部门，也有学术部门，能够汇集比普通医院多得多的资源。” 

Smith is a healthcare leader in the middle of a booming time for the industry, and Texas in general. He played a critical role in the building of the Clements hospital in 2014. When it opened, it was a 1.2 million square foot facility with 460 beds. 史密斯是一名医疗行业领导者，正处于该行业的蓬勃发展期，得克萨斯州总体也是如此。他在2014年克莱门茨医院的建设中发挥了关键作用。该院开业时是一家建筑面积120万平方英尺、设有460张床位的医疗机构。 

Only two years later, the hospital was already in expansion mode to reach its current level of 752 beds and 2 million square feet.  仅仅两年后，该院就已进入扩建模式，以达到目前752张床位、200万平方英尺的规模。 

“I could probably fill up another half of the hospital with the number of patients we turn away,” he says.  “以我们拒收的患者数量，我大概能再填满半个医院，”他说。 

A current project involves construction of a new children’s hospital, which requires the demolition of three buildings and carries a price tag of almost $6 billion.  当前一个项目是修建一座新的儿童医院，需要拆除三栋建筑，项目耗资近60亿美元。 

“We have a double challenge in Texas,” Smith says. “One, healthcare is booming everywhere because of the demographics in America, and the other thing is Texas is a huge net importer of people from all over the country. We’re having a lot of folks coming in from higher costs of living states into Texas, and a lot of Fortune 500 companies. “我们在得克萨斯州面临双重挑战，”史密斯说。“第一，由于美国的人口结构，医疗保健行业在各地都在蓬勃发展；第二，得州是个人口净流入大州，吸引着来自全国各地的人。大量人口从生活成本较高的州迁入得州，还有许多《财富》500强公司入驻。” 

“They’re bringing people, and they’re bringing jobs, but there is not enough infrastructure to support them, so we’re constantly building.” “他们带来了人口，也带来了就业岗位，但没有足够的基础设施来支撑他们，因此我们一直在建设。” 

Smith was a recipient of FacilitiesNet’s 2023 Facility Champion award in part due to his role in helping get the Clements hospital up and running. During an October 2023 interview he described the project as one of the highlights of his career.  史密斯曾荣获FacilitiesNet 2023年度设施先锋奖，部分原因是他在帮助克莱门茨医院建成并投入运营的过程中发挥了作用。在2023年10月的一次采访中，他称该项目是自己职业生涯的亮点之一。 

"It was such a success that planning began within a year of opening to expand,” he said at the time. “From the design of the expansion to the construction in 2017 to 2020, nothing was more exciting and challenging than running a maintenance team while being able to have input on a major expansion into a fully occupied building.” “项目非常成功，开业后不到一年就开始规划扩建，”他当时表示。“从扩建设计到2017年至2020年的施工，没有什么比一边管理维护团队、一边能为一栋已全面投入使用的大楼的重大扩建提供意见更令人兴奋、也更具挑战了。” 

Thea Vanderhill, AVP of Clinical Design and Transition Planning for UT Southwestern Medical Center, has worked side-by-side with Smith for a decade and nominated him for the Facility Champion award. Vanderhill praises Smith for his attention to detail. UT西南医学中心临床设计与过渡规划AVP西娅·范德希尔与史密斯并肩工作了十年，并提名他参评“设施先锋”奖。范德希尔称赞史密斯注重细节。 

“It’s his relentlessness,” she says. “Not taking the wrong answer as a final answer or letting you know good enough isn’t good enough to be the right answer, it has to be the best answer, and he doesn’t let those issues simmer. He addresses issues from a facilities perspective and that’s not always the first instinct for everyone, but it is for Steve. He’s very consistent and has high standards.” “这就是他的执着，”她说。“他不把错误答案当作最终答案，也会让你明白，‘足够好’还够不上正确答案；必须是最佳答案。他不会让那些问题积压拖延，而是从设施角度处理问题。这并非每个人的第一本能，但史蒂夫的第一本能正是如此。他始终如一，而且标准很高。”

While the definition of a facility manager includes protecting the systems and buildings that people occupy, it also includes the occupants themselves. In Smith’s case that includes patients who are facing life-or-death situations. 设施经理这一角色的职责，不仅包括保护人们身处其中的系统和建筑，还包括建筑中的使用者本身。就史密斯而言，这其中包括面临生死关头的患者。 

“I have 752 beds in here and I think of every single one of those patients as individual people that are struggling to get better in life,” he says. “My job and our team’s job is, ‘How do we make that happen?’ and we do that by making sure the doctors and the nurses and clinicians all have everything they need to do their jobs, whether it’s lights, plumbing, air conditioning, proper pressures, everything that is working in those systems. “这里有752张床位，我把其中每一位病人都视为努力让自己好转起来的独立个体，”他说。“我的工作以及我们团队的工作就是，‘我们如何促成这件事？’为此我们要确保医生、护士和临床医生都拥有开展工作所需的一切，无论是照明、给排水、空调、适宜的压力，还是这些系统中正常运转的一切。 

“My focus is the people that are living in those beds who can’t do it for themselves, to make sure nothing goes wrong in that building to prevent the care that people need, so they can go back home with their loved ones.” “我关注的是躺在这些病床上、无法自理的人，要确保大楼里不出任何差错，妨碍人们获得所需的照护，这样他们才能回到家中，与亲人团聚。” 

Building relationships 建立人际关系

Attending an endless string of meetings, either in person or remotely on Zoom or Teams is hardly anyone’s idea of a pleasant job experience. 没完没了地参加会议，无论是当面还是通过 Zoom 或 Teams 远程参加，几乎没有人会觉得这是愉快的工作体验。 

In a rapidly growing, heavily regulated healthcare setting, it’s not Smith's cup of tea either, though he realizes that’s part of the job considering his position at the hospital.  在快速发展、受到严格监管的医疗环境中，史密斯也同样不喜欢这种方式，但他意识到，考虑到自己在医院的职位，这是工作的一部分。 

“I think I’m in meetings probably 60 to 75 percent of my days during a week,” he says. “Some weeks are better than others and the rest is just working with our staff.” “我想一周里我白天可能有60%到75%的时间都在开会，”他说。“有些星期情况会好一些，其余时间就是和我们的员工一起工作。” 

It’s the duties outside the constant flow of meetings that keep Smith challenged and focused on improving himself, his staff and the building he helps manage. 正是接踵而至的会议之外的职责，让史密斯始终面临挑战，并专注于提升自我、培养员工以及改善他协助管理的大楼。 

"My role is managing people,” he says. “Even though I have a hospital that I’m responsible for, I’ve got 70 people that help manage that hospital. I’ve got to make sure they have the time, the resources and the training to do their job.” “我的角色是管理人员，”他说。“尽管我要负责一家医院，但有70名员工协助我管理这家医院。我必须确保他们有时间、资源和培训来完成工作。” 

Smith’s job involves plenty of planning for renovation and modification projects that are constantly evolving at the hospital. He keeps a chart of key performance indicators that focus on making the hospital’s systems more productive and efficient. 史密斯的工作需要对医院内不断推进的翻新和改造项目进行大量规划。他保存着一份关键绩效指标图表，重点是提高医院各系统的生产力和效率。 

When Smith does find free time during his day, he goes out on “rounds,” not dissimilar to a doctor or nurse checking in on their patients during the day.  当史密斯白天确实找到空闲时间时，他会出去“查房”，这与医生或护士在白天查看病人的情况并无太大不同。 

“When a meeting ends early and I have nothing to do for the next 30 minutes, I’m in the hospital and I go find my staff,” he says. “I will go see what my staff is doing in rooms. I like to find out what my staff is doing, and not only find out what they need, but finding out how everything is going in their personal lives.” “会议提前结束，而接下来30分钟我无事可做时，我会在医院里找我的员工，”他说。“我会去看他们在房间里做什么。我喜欢了解员工在做什么，不仅了解他们需要什么，也了解他们个人生活过得怎么样。” 

Archana Cronjaeger is Smith’s boss and the assistant vice president for Hospital Facilities at the hospital complex. She describes Smith as a people person and unique motivator who encourages his employees to better themselves. Archana Cronjaeger 是史密斯的上司，也是该医疗园区医院设施部的助理副总裁。她形容史密斯擅长与人交往，也是一位与众不同的激励者，能够鼓励员工提升自我。 

“He likes to make sure that his staff can rise,” she says. “He does a lot of stuff to increase morale and encourage staff to move up, get their masters, or if you’re a traditional technical person, go take some classes so we can move them into leadership.” “他喜欢确保自己的员工能够成长，”她说。“他做了很多事情来提振士气，鼓励员工晋升、取得硕士学位；如果你是传统技术岗位的人，就去修一些课程，这样我们就能把他们提拔到领导岗位。” 

Smith hasn’t lasted this long in his career without taking chances and striving to improve. It’s a message that he’s always sharing with his colleagues and team. 史密斯若不勇于尝试、奋力提升，就不会在职业生涯中走到今天。他总是把这一理念分享给同事和团队。 

“Don’t be afraid to fail,” he says. “I think so many people I run across are afraid of losing their job because they don’t want to try something new. They’re just afraid of speaking up in a meeting, but I firmly believe that for anybody in any industry, especially healthcare, go ask those questions. “不要害怕失败，”他说。“我觉得我遇到的太多人都害怕丢掉工作，因为他们不想尝试新事物。他们只是害怕在会上发言，但我坚信，对任何行业的任何人，尤其是医疗行业，都要去提出这些问题。 

“Keep pushing yourself to learn more, but don’t be afraid to fail. If you do fail, you can learn from it, and you’ll be better for it.” “不断督促自己学习更多，但不要害怕失败。如果你真的失败了，你可以从中学习，并且会因此变得更好。” 

Dave Lubach is executive editor of the facility market. He has more than nine years of experience writing about facility management and maintenance issues. Dave Lubach 是设施市场的执行编辑。他拥有九年以上撰写设施管理与维护问题相关内容的经验。 

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