Ventilation Rates and Airflow Pathways in Patient Rooms: A Case Study of Bioaerosol Containment and Removal

Mousavi, Ehsan; Grosskopf, K. R.

doi:10.1093/annhyg/mev048

Cited by 36 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Although many studies observed that lower ventilation rates could increase the risk of airborne cross‐infection, increasing the ACH only may not always be advantageous for the patients’ well‐being from the infection risk perspective . Using numerical modeling through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis, Memarzadeh and Xu suggested that in an enclosed mechanically ventilated room (eg, an isolation room) increasing the airflow rate (ie, ACH) may not be the major contributing factor to control infections transmission.…”

Section: Indoor Environmental Parameters Impacting Patient Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of indoor environmental parameters related to building heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems on patients' medical outcomes: A review of scientific research on hospital buildings

2019

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The indoor environment of a mechanically ventilated hospital building controls infection rates as well as influences patients’ healing processes and overall medical outcomes. This review covers the scientific research that has assessed patients’ medical outcomes concerning at least one indoor environmental parameter related to building heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, such as indoor air temperature, relative humidity, and indoor air ventilation parameters. Research related to the naturally ventilated hospital buildings was outside the scope of this review article. After 1998, a total of 899 papers were identified that fit the inclusion criteria of this study. Of these, 176 papers have been included in this review to understand the relationship between the health outcomes of a patient and the indoor environment of a mechanically ventilated hospital building. The purpose of this literature review was to summarize how indoor environmental parameters related to mechanical ventilation systems of a hospital building are impacting patients. This review suggests that there is a need for future interdisciplinary collaborative research to quantify the optimum range for HVAC parameters considering airborne exposures and patients’ positive medical outcomes.

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Section: Indoor Environmental Parameters Impacting Patient Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of indoor environmental parameters related to building heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems on patients' medical outcomes: A review of scientific research on hospital buildings

2019

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“…The − model is extensively used due to its satisfactory results regarding mechanically ventilated environments [4,25,38,42]. In addition, Pustelnik [31] presents its low-power consumption, in terms of computational processing time and cost, compared to other turbulence models, while preserving relative accuracy.…”

Section: Mathematical Setting and Computational Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular to this matter, air outlets, such as exhausts (return air), are responsible for the elimination and treatment of the contaminated air of surgical rooms. Hence, the selection and the location of outlet devices should not be sidelined [18,21,25,39]. In relation to its selection, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers-ASHRAE [3] indicates that it depends on (a) velocity in the occupied zone near outlets, (b) permissible pressure drop, and (c) noise.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the performance of airflow in an operating rooms using ceiling supply and sidewall inlet systems

Baracat

Silva

Lofrano

et al. 2019

J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng.

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Poor air quality arises by and large from inadequate ventilation and presence of contaminants. In particular to hospital environments, it exercises direct and significant influence over infections occurrence. The purpose of this paper is to research, through computational fluid dynamics, how ceiling (four-way supply) and sidewall (conventional high supply) inlets systems, as well as outlet (exhaust) positioning, effect air motion and distribution in operating rooms. By the assistance of numerical modeling, four alternative scenarios of a operating room were investigated, maintaining flow rates and varying inlet system and outlet position. The results are presented in terms of velocity vectors and temperatures, which were compared to the experimental data available. Subsequently, a qualitative analysis regarding conformity to sanitary requirements was conducted.

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“…Ref. [6] and [11] have previously published a paper on the data set collected from these tests. Upon examination of the data set, we observed that the much of the data utilized in both papers was aerosol concentration data that exceeded the instrument's maximum capability (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential airborne pathogen transmission in a hospital with and without surge control ventilation system modifications

Offermann

Eagan

Offermann

et al. 2016

Building and Environment

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a b s t r a c tTo better understand the transport of airborne particulate matter (PM) in hospital environments when surge control strategies are implemented, tests were conducted in a recently decommissioned hospital during a one-week period. An aerosol was released within a patient room and concentrations measured in the room and hallway with and without surge control ventilation system modifications. The average hallway protection efficiencies were high (>98%) both for the baseline ventilation configuration and when the ventilation system was modified for whole floor negative pressure, indicating very little PM reached the hallway. During entry/exit events through the patient room door into the hallway, the average minimum hallway protection efficiencies were lower during the modified ventilation operation (93e94%) than for the baseline operation (98e99%). These lower hallway protection efficiencies may be explained by the 52% reduction in the outdoor air ventilation being supplied to the hallway during the modified operation mode. This suggests that patient room doors should remain closed to control PM movement into the hallway. In addition, if there is concern about airborne infection transmission, an anteroom may be used to further reduce the transport of particles from the patient rooms to the hallways of the ward.

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Ventilation Rates and Airflow Pathways in Patient Rooms: A Case Study of Bioaerosol Containment and Removal

Cited by 36 publications

References 31 publications

Effects of indoor environmental parameters related to building heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems on patients' medical outcomes: A review of scientific research on hospital buildings

Effects of indoor environmental parameters related to building heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems on patients' medical outcomes: A review of scientific research on hospital buildings

Assessment of the performance of airflow in an operating rooms using ceiling supply and sidewall inlet systems

Potential airborne pathogen transmission in a hospital with and without surge control ventilation system modifications

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