scholarly journals The Relevance of Indoor Air Quality in Hospital Settings: From an Exclusively Biological Issue to a Global Approach in the Italian Context

Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 361
Author(s):  
Gaetano Settimo ◽  
Marco Gola ◽  
Stefano Capolongo
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Global Approach ◽  
Health It ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Italian Context ◽  
Quality In Healthcare

In the context of the architectures for health, it is an utmost priority to operate a regular and continuous updating of quality, efficacy, and efficiency’s processes. In fact, health promotion and prevention take place through a proper management and design of healing spaces, in particular with regard to the most sensitive users. In recent decades, there has been increasing attention to indoor air quality in healthcare facilities. Nowadays, this issue must involve the implementation of a series of appropriate interventions, with a global approach of prevention and reduction of risk factors on users’ health, which allows, in addition to a correct management of hospital settings, the realization of concrete actions. To date, in Italy, despite the indoor air being taken in consideration in numerous activities and studies aimed at understanding both building hygiene and environmental aspects, the greatest difficulty is strongly related to the absence of an integrated national policy. The scope of the paper is to underline the relevance of indoor air quality in hospital settings, highlighting the need of procedures, protocols, and tools for strengthening and improving interventions for health prevention, protection, and promotion of users.

scholarly journals Microbial Air Quality in Healthcare Facilities

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 6226
Author(s):  
Lucia Bonadonna ◽  
Rossella Briancesco ◽  
Anna Maria Coccia ◽  
Pierluigi Meloni ◽  
Giuseppina La Rosa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Infection Risk ◽  
Critical Conditions ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Healthcare Settings ◽  
Potential Source ◽  
Hospital Environments ◽  
Quality In Healthcare

There is increasing evidence that indoor air quality and contaminated surfaces provide an important potential source for transmission of pathogens in hospitals. Airborne hospital microorganisms are apparently harmless to healthy people. Nevertheless, healthcare settings are characterized by different environmental critical conditions and high infective risk, mainly due to the compromised immunologic conditions of the patients that make them more vulnerable to infections. Thus, spread, survival and persistence of microbial communities are important factors in hospital environments affecting health of inpatients as well as of medical and nursing staff. In this paper, airborne and aerosolized microorganisms and their presence in hospital environments are taken into consideration, and the factors that collectively contribute to defining the infection risk in these facilities are illustrated.

scholarly journals Indoor Air Quality in Healthcare Units—A Systematic Literature Review Focusing Recent Research

2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 967
Author(s):  
Ana Fonseca ◽  
Isabel Abreu ◽  
Maria João Guerreiro ◽  
Nelson Barros
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Environmental Control ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Research Interest ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Quality In Healthcare

The adequate assessment and management of indoor air quality in healthcare facilities is of utmost importance for patient safety and occupational health purposes. This study aims to identify the recent trends of research on the topic through a systematic literature review following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) methodology. A total of 171 articles published in the period 2015–2020 were selected and analyzed. Results show that there is a worldwide growing research interest in this subject, dispersed in a wide variety of scientific journals. A textometric analysis using the IRaMuTeQ software revealed four clusters of topics in the sampled articles: physicochemical pollutants, design and management of infrastructures, environmental control measures, and microbiological contamination. The studies focus mainly on hospital facilities, but there is also research interest in primary care centers and dental clinics. The majority of the analyzed articles (85%) report experimental data, with the most frequently measured parameters being related to environmental quality (temperature and relative humidity), microbiological load, CO2 and particulate matter. Non-compliance with the WHO guidelines for indoor air quality is frequently reported. This study provides an overview of the recent literature on this topic, identifying promising lines of research to improve indoor air quality in healthcare facilities.

Asthma-related respiratory symptoms associated with indoor air quality in healthcare facilities

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul K. Henneberger ◽  
Steven Rollins ◽  
Michael Humann ◽  
Xioaming Liang ◽  
Feng-Chiao Su ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Respiratory Symptoms ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Quality In Healthcare

Improvement of indoor air quality in healthcare settings during COVID-19 pandemic (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abderrahim Lakhouit ◽  
Hanaa Hachimi ◽  
Chakib El Mokhi ◽  
Adnane Addaim ◽  
Mohamed Kaicer
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Ventilation Mode ◽  
Healthcare Settings ◽  
Different Types ◽  
American Society ◽  
Quality In Healthcare ◽  
The Impact

UNSTRUCTURED This study investigates the importance of using engineering ventilation in healthcare settings, especially during widespread disease outbreaks such as COVID-19. Ventilation can be used to improve indoor air quality in care homes, hospitals, and quarantine locations. Although there are several different types of engineering ventilation, mechanical ventilation is most suitable for reducing the impact and spread of COVID-19 in healthcare and other facilities. However, this ventilation mode should be designed according to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), with the minimum exhaust air flow measuring 5 liters per second per square meter.

scholarly journals Chemical Pollution in Healing Spaces: The Decalogue of the Best Practices for Adequate Indoor Air Quality in Inpatient Rooms

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (22) ◽  
pp. 4388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Gola ◽  
Gaetano Settimo ◽  
Stefano Capolongo
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Chemical Pollution ◽  
Management Decision ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Interdisciplinary Knowledge ◽  
Management Decision Making ◽  
Reported Data

Indoor air quality (IAQ) is one of the main topics in which governments are focusing. In healthcare facilities, several studies have reported data analysis and case studies to improve users’ health. Nowadays, although many studies have been conducted related to the biological and physical risks, the chemical risks have been less investigated and only in some specific functional areas of the hospitals. Starting from some systematic reviews and research works, this paper aims to list the best healthy practices for an adequate IAQ in inpatient wards. In particular, the decalogue lists the strategies related to chemical pollution, starting from design and management, with a focus on (a) localization of hospitals and inpatient rooms, (b) hospital room, (c) microclimatic parameters, (d) ventilation systems, (e) materials and finishing, (f) furniture and equipment, (g) cleaning products and activities, (h) maintenance and (i) management activities, and (l) users and workers. The multidisciplinary approach emphasizes the need for interdisciplinary knowledge and skills aimed to find solutions able to protect users’ health status. The design and management decision-making, ranging from the adequate choices of construction site and hospital exposure, finishing materials, cleaning and maintenance activities, etc., which can affect the IAQ must be carried out based on scientific research and data analysis.

scholarly journals Indoor Air Quality and Sustainability Management—Case Study in Three Portuguese Healthcare Units

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Fonseca ◽  
Isabel Abreu ◽  
Maria Guerreiro ◽  
Cristina Abreu ◽  
Ricardo Silva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Natural Ventilation ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Co2 Concentration ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
June July ◽  
Management Case Study

Adequate management of indoor air quality (IAQ) in healthcare units has relevant impacts on sustainability performance due to its effects on patient safety, occupational health and safety, and energy consumptions. This study sought to identify improvement opportunities on IAQ management by collecting and analyzing experimental data of selected parameters in three healthcare units in Portugal: Two general hospitals and one primary healthcare center. Indoor air temperature, relative humidity, CO2, bacteria, and fungi concentrations were measured in summer and winter campaigns in June/July 2017 and in January/March 2018. Results show that the exclusive use of natural ventilation is not adequate when the affluence of users is high, but the analyzed parameters revealed acceptable results under low occupation intensity conditions. Results also show that keeping low indoor air relative humidity has a significant impact in reducing fungi concentration and that there is a significant correlation at the 0.05 level between indoor air CO2 concentration and bacterial loads. Therefore, as opportunities to improve sustainability, IAQ management in healthcare facilities should consider natural ventilation as a complement to mechanical ventilation systems and should focus on adequate control of indoor air relative humidity and CO2 concentration to reduce the risk of airborne infections.

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