Air pollution in the operating room: A case study of characteristics of airborne particles, PAHs and environmentally persistent free radicals

2021 ◽  
pp. 101257
Author(s):  
Xiawei Yu ◽  
Hanyang Liu ◽  
Fang Kang ◽  
Bingqing Zhu ◽  
Xudong Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Free Radicals ◽  
Operating Room ◽  
Airborne Particles

scholarly journals Performance Analysis of the Ventilation System for a Surgical Operating Room in Egypt: A Case Study of Mataria Teaching Hospital in Cairo

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Maxemos ◽  
abouelmagd abdelsamie ◽  
Hatem Sadek
Keyword(s):  
Laminar Flow ◽  
Operating Room ◽  
Teaching Hospital ◽  
Ventilation System ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Airborne Particles ◽  
Airflow Distribution ◽  
Proposed Modification ◽  
High Level

Abstract The Design of the ventilation system in a hospital operating room plays a very important role, not only in providing thermal comfort and hygienic environment for the patients or staff, but also to ensure the scavenging of any contaminants or airborne particles in the operating room theatre that might leak from outside to the operating room or emitting from patients’ infections. The present study focuses at airflow distribution, temperature, humidity and velocity profiles in a surgical operating room. An operating room inside the Mataria teaching hospital in Cairo (Egypt) has been chosen for the study. Numerical and experimental studies were carried out, where the room was ventilated through laminar flow diffuser system and 100% fresh air. The air was released by four outlet grills: two grills at a low level of the floor and two grills at a high level of the floor. In this work, two cases are investigated. In case I, the air outlets have been installed on one side of the room (which already exists in the hospital); and in Case II, the air outlets have been installed on two opposite sides (the suggested case). The results showed that the proposed modification (Case II) performed better distribution of ventilation than Case I. Therefore, it is recommended to install air outlets in two different side areas inside the room in order to avoid the accumulation of contaminants.

Evaluations for New Healthcare Environment Commissioning and Operational Decision Making Using Simulation and Human Factors: A Case Study of an Interventional Trauma Operating Room

2021 ◽  
pp. 193758672199966
Author(s):  
Mirette Dubé ◽  
Jason Laberge ◽  
Elaine Sigalet ◽  
Jonas Shultz ◽  
Christine Vis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Operating Room ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Healthcare Team ◽  
Healthcare Environment ◽  
New Process ◽  
Timely Access ◽  
Operational Decision Making

Purpose: The aim of this article is to provide a case study example of the preopening phase of an interventional trauma operating room (ITOR) using systems-focused simulation and human factor evaluations for healthcare environment commissioning. Background: Systems-focused simulation, underpinned by human factors science, is increasingly being used as a quality improvement tool to test and evaluate healthcare spaces with the stakeholders that use them. Purposeful real-to-life simulated events are rehearsed to allow healthcare teams opportunity to identify what is working well and what needs improvement within the work system such as tasks, environments, and processes that support the delivery of healthcare services. This project highlights salient evaluation objectives and methods used within the clinical commissioning phase of one of the first ITORs in Canada. Methods: A multistaged evaluation project to support clinical commissioning was facilitated engaging 24 stakeholder groups. Key evaluation objectives highlighted include the evaluation of two transport routes, switching of operating room (OR) tabletops, the use of the C-arm, and timely access to lead in the OR. Multiple evaluation methods were used including observation, debriefing, time-based metrics, distance wheel metrics, equipment adjustment counts, and other transport route considerations. Results: The evaluation resulted in several types of data that allowed for informed decision making for the most effective, efficient, and safest transport route for an exsanguinating trauma patient and healthcare team; improved efficiencies in use of the C-arm, significantly reduced the time to access lead; and uncovered a new process for switching OR tabletop due to safety threats identified.

Comprehensive Pricing Model of Urban Traffic Air Pollution Based on Bi-Level Programming

2012 ◽  
Vol 253-255 ◽  
pp. 1913-1917
Author(s):  
Ze Bin Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Urban Traffic ◽  
Vehicle Speed ◽  
Pricing Model ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Transport Services ◽  
Relationship Model ◽  
The Relationship

In order to reduce the negative impact of urban traffic air pollution, this paper firstly analyzes the relationship between urban traffic air pollution and vehicle speed, after providing the relationship model, the paper establishes a comprehensive pricing model of urban traffic air pollution based on bi-level programming, the model considers the traffic air pollution pricing, and includes the factors of congestion pricing, bus fee, pricing revenue redistribution on improvement of public transport services and the expansion of road capacity. The case study shows that the implementation of comprehensive pricing of urban traffic air pollution can reduce traffic pollution and unreasonable traffic flow, which is conducive to the sustainable development of the city.

scholarly journals Association between Green Space Structure and the Prevalence of Asthma: A Case Study of Toronto

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 5852
Author(s):  
Yuping Dong ◽  
Helin Liu ◽  
Tianming Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Green Space ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Chronic Inflammatory Disease ◽  
Space Structure ◽  
Tree Diversity ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Index Tree

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that can be caused by various factors, such as asthma-related genes, lifestyle, and air pollution, and it can result in adverse impacts on asthmatics’ mental health and quality of life. Hence, asthma issues have been widely studied, mainly from demographic, socioeconomic, and genetic perspectives. Although it is becoming increasingly clear that asthma is likely influenced by green spaces, the underlying mechanisms are still unclear and inconsistent. Moreover, green space influences the prevalence of asthma concurrently in multiple ways, but most existing studies have explored only one pathway or a partial pathway, rather than the multi-pathways. Compared to greenness (measured by Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, tree density, etc.), green space structure—which has the potential to impact the concentration of air pollution and microbial diversity—is still less investigated in studies on the influence of green space on asthma. Given this research gap, this research took Toronto, Canada, as a case study to explore the two pathways between green space structure and the prevalence of asthma based on controlling the related covariates. Using regression analysis, it was found that green space structure can protect those aged 0–19 years from a high risk of developing asthma, and this direct protective effect can be enhanced by high tree diversity. For adults, green space structure does not influence the prevalence of asthma unless moderated by tree diversity (a measurement of the richness and diversity of trees). However, this impact was not found in adult females. Moreover, the hypothesis that green space structure influences the prevalence of asthma by reducing air pollution was not confirmed in this study, which can be attributed to a variety of causes.

scholarly journals From Black to Blue Skies: Civil Society Perceptions of Air Pollution in Shanghai

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Amanda K. Winter ◽  
Huong Le ◽  
Simon Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Ecological Civilization ◽  
Civil Society Participation ◽  
Quality Indexes

Abstract This paper explores the perception and politics of air pollution in Shanghai. We present a qualitative case study based on a literature review of relevant policies and research on civil society and air pollution, in dialogue with air quality indexes and field research data. We engage with the concept of China's authoritarian environmentalism and the political context of ecological civilization. We find that discussions about air pollution are often placed in a frame that is both locally temporal (environment) and internationally developmentalist (economy). We raise questions from an example of three applications with different presentations of air quality index measures for the same time and place. This example and frame highlight the central role and connection between technology, data and evidence, and pollution visibility in the case of the perception of air pollution. Our findings then point to two gaps in authoritarian environmentalism research, revealing a need to better understand (1) the role of technology within this governance context, and (2) the tensions created from this non-participatory approach with ecological civilization, which calls for civil society participation.

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