Hospital Isolation Rooms and Operating Rooms

CEE conducted research for the National Institute of Standards and Technology to identify strategies to reduce the transfer of airborne infectious diseases in hospitals. A key factor in the control of airborne infections in hospitals is the establishment of proper pressure relationships between certain critical areas of the building and their surroundings. Operating rooms (ORs) must be kept at positive pressure relative to surrounding areas to limit movement of infectious agents into the ORs where they may be deposited in surgical wounds. Airborne infection isolation (AII) rooms must be kept at negative pressure to limit movement of infectious agents such as tuberculosis from the patient in the AII room to other areas of the building. Protective environment (PE) rooms must be kept at positive pressure to protect immuno-compromised patients such as bone marrow transplant recipients from infectious agents elsewhere in the building.

This project examines airflow and pressure relationships associated with these critical spaces, and how engineering principles related to airtightness and multizone airflow analysis methods can be used to improve critical space design and operation. The first phase includes a survey of design engineers, review of plans and specifications, airtightness measurements in one facility, and airflow modeling in a generic hospital. A second phase currently in progress includes measurements of component air leakage and airtightness measurements in additional facilities. Both are funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Reports

Reports from the first phase of the project are below:

Strategies to Reduce the Spread of Airborne Infections in Hospitals Task 1a: Survey of Design Practice
Strategies to Reduce the Spread of Airborne Infections in Hospitals Task 1b: Review of Recent Hospital Designs

Contact Rick Hermans at (612) 335-5840 for more information.