Decreasing Airborne Contamination Levels in High-Risk Hospital Areas Using a Novel Mobile Air-Treatment Unit

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 1181-1186 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Bergeron ◽  
G. Reboux ◽  
J. L. Poirot ◽  
N. Laudinet
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Operating Room ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Nonthermal Plasma ◽  
Fungal Species ◽  
Airborne Particles ◽  
Treatment Unit ◽  
Air Treatment ◽  
Hospital Environments ◽  
Airborne Contamination

Objective.To evaluate the performance of a new mobile air-treatment unit that uses nonthermal-plasma reactors for lowering the airborne bioburden in critical hospital environments and reducing the risk of nosocomial infection due to opportunistic airborne pathogens, such asAspergillus fumigatus.Methods.Tests were conducted in 2 different high-risk hospital areas: an operating room under simulated conditions and rooms hosting patients in a pediatric hematology ward. Operating room testing provided performance evaluations of removal rates for airborne contamination (ie, particles larger than 0.5μm) and overall lowering of the airborne bioburden (ie, colony-forming units of total mesophilic flora and fungal flora per cubic meter of air). In the hematology service, opportunistic and nonpathogenic airborne fungal levels in a patient's room equipped with an air-treatment unit were compared to those in a control room.Results.In an operating room with a volume of 118 m3, the time required to lower the concentration of airborne particles larger than 0.5μm by 90% was decreased from 12 minutes with the existing high-efficiency particulate air filtration system to less than 2 minutes with the units tested, with a 2-log decrease in the steady-state levels of such particles (P<.01). Concurrently, total airborne mesophilic flora concentrations dropped by a factor of 2, and the concentrations of fungal species were reduced to undetectable levels (P<.01). The 12-day test period in the hematology ward revealed a significant reduction in airborne fungus levels (P<.01), with average reductions of 75% for opportunistic species and 82% for nonpathogenic species.Conclusion.Our data indicate that the mobile, nonthermal-plasma air treatment unit tested in this study can rapidly reduce the levels of airborne particles and significantly lower the airborne bioburden in high-risk hospital environments.

Wound Ventilation With Ultraclean Air for Prevention of Direct Airborne Contamination During Surgery

2004 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 297-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikael Persson ◽  
Jan van der Linden
Keyword(s):  
Operating Room ◽  
Median Number ◽  
Airborne Particles ◽  
University Hospital ◽  
Surgical Wound ◽  
Wound Model ◽  
Wound Contamination ◽  
Room Ventilation ◽  
Airborne Contamination ◽  
Number Of Particles

AbstractBackground and Objective:Despite the novelties in operating room ventilation, airborne bacteria remain an important source of surgical wound contamination. An ultraclean airflow from the ceiling downward may convey airborne particles from the surgical team into the wound, thus increasing the risk of infection. Therefore, similar ventilation from the wound upward should be considered. We investigated the effect of wound ventilation on the concentration of airborne particles in a wound model during simulated surgery.Design:Randomized experimental study simulating surgery with a wound cavity model.Setting:An operating room of a university hospital ventilated with ultraclean air directed downward.Interventions:Particles 5 um and larger were counted with and without a 5-cm deep cavity and with and with-out the insufflation of ultraclean air.Results:With the surgeon standing upright, no airborne particles could be detected in the wound model. In contrast, during simulated operations, the median number of particles per 0.1 cu ft reached 18 (25th and 75th percentiles, 12 and 22.25) in the model with a cavity and 15.5 (25th and 75th percentiles, 14 and 21.5) without. With a cavity, wound ventilation markedly reduced the median number of particles to 1 (range, 0 to 1.25;P< .001).Conclusions:To protect a surgical wound against direct airborne contamination, air should be directed away from the wound rather than toward it. This study provides supportive evidence to earlier studies that operating room ventilation with ultraclean air is imperfect during surgical activity and that wound ventilation may be a simple complement. Further clinical trials are needed.

scholarly journals A Systems Approach to Assess Transport and Diffusion of Hazardous Airborne Particles in a Large Surgical Suite: Potential Impacts on Viral Airborne Transmission

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (15) ◽  
pp. 5404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Garbey ◽  
Guillaume Joerger ◽  
Shannon Furr
Keyword(s):  
Operating Room ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Airborne Particles ◽  
Mathematical Framework ◽  
Airborne Transmission ◽  
Surgical Smoke ◽  
Airborne Contamination ◽  
Transport And Diffusion ◽  
And Diffusion

Airborne transmission of viruses, such as the coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), in hospital systems are under debate: it has been shown that transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus goes beyond droplet dynamics that is limited to 1 to 2 m, but it is unclear if the airborne viral load is significant enough to ensure transmission of the disease. Surgical smoke can act as a carrier for tissue particles, viruses, and bacteria. To quantify airborne transmission from a physical point of view, we consider surgical smoke produced by thermal destruction of tissue during the use of electrosurgical instruments as a marker of airborne particle diffusion-transportation. Surgical smoke plumes are also known to be dangerous for human health, especially to surgical staff who receive long-term exposure over the years. There are limited quantified metrics reported on long-term effects of surgical smoke on staff’s health. The purpose of this paper is to provide a mathematical framework and experimental protocol to assess the transport and diffusion of hazardous airborne particles in every large operating room suite. Measurements from a network of air quality sensors gathered during a clinical study provide validation for the main part of the model. Overall, the model estimates staff exposure to airborne contamination from surgical smoke and biological material. To address the clinical implication over a long period of time, the systems approach is built upon previous work on multi-scale modeling of surgical flow in a large operating room suite and takes into account human behavior factors.

scholarly journals A Systems Approach to Assess Transport and Diffusion of Hazardous Airborne Particles in a Large Surgical Suite: Potential Impacts on Viral Airborne Transmission

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Garbey ◽  
Guillaume Joerger ◽  
Shannon Furr
Keyword(s):  
Operating Room ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Airborne Particles ◽  
Mathematical Framework ◽  
Airborne Transmission ◽  
Surgical Smoke ◽  
Airborne Contamination ◽  
Transport And Diffusion ◽  
And Diffusion

Airborne transmission of viruses, such as the coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), in hospital systems are under debate: it has been shown that transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus goes beyond droplet dynamics that is limited to 3-6 feet, but it is unclear if the airborne viral load is significant enough to ensure transmission of the disease. Surgical smoke can act as a carrier for tissue particles, viruses, and bacteria. To quantify airborne transmission from a physical point of view, we consider surgical smoke produced by thermal destruction of tissue during the use of electrosurgical instruments as a marker of airborne particle diffusion-transportation. Surgical smoke plumes are also known to be dangerous for human health, especially to surgical staff who receive long-term exposure over the years. There are limited quantified metrics reported on long-term effects of surgical smoke on staff's health. The purpose of this paper is to provide a mathematical framework and experimental protocol to assess the transport and diffusion of hazardous airborne particles in every large operating room suite. Measurements from a network of air quality sensors gathered during a clinical study provide validation for the main part of the model. Overall, the model estimates staff exposure to airborne contamination from surgical smoke and biological material. To address the clinical implication over a long period of time, the systems approach is built upon previous work on multi-scale modeling of surgical flow in a large operating room suite and takes into account human behavior factors.

Improvement of the Indoor Environment and Airborne Contamination Control in an Operating Room

2011 ◽  
Vol 255-260 ◽  
pp. 1532-1536
Author(s):  
Fu Jen Wang ◽  
Yat Huang Yau ◽  
Wen Bin Ng ◽  
Chi Ming Lai
Keyword(s):  
Operating Room ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Air Distribution ◽  
Contamination Control ◽  
Airflow Distribution ◽  
Strategic Approach ◽  
Airborne Contamination ◽  
Ventilation Performance ◽  
Contamination Concentration

Modern operating rooms are increasingly turning to contamination control by ventilating technology for the infectious control. The objective of this study is to present the strategic approach on performance improvement of the ventilating system for a hospital operating room under limit budget. A physical partition curtain has been proposed and conducted around the high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter of an operating room to validate the improvement of air distribution and contamination control. Numerical simulation of a full-scale operating room has been carried out at a district hospital. The results from computer simulation revealed that the improvement of airflow could be achieved satisfactorily by the application of a physical partition curtain at the length of 1.2 m. Ventilation performance could be assessed extensively not only by airflow distribution and concentration profile but also by the calculation of contamination concentration decay.

scholarly journals Modeling of aerosol transmission of airborne pathogens in ICU rooms of COVID-19 patients with acute respiratory failure

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyril Crawford ◽  
Emmanuel Vanoli ◽  
Baptiste Decorde ◽  
Maxime Lancelot ◽  
Camille Duprat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ventilation System ◽  
Medical Personnel ◽  
Airborne Particles ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Dynamics Model ◽  
Treatment Unit ◽  
Normal Breathing ◽  
Air Flows ◽  
Boltzmann Method ◽  
Number Of Particles

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has generated many concerns about cross-contamination risks, particularly in hospital settings and Intensive Care Units (ICU). Virus-laden aerosols produced by infected patients can propagate throughout ventilated rooms and put medical personnel entering them at risk. Experimental results found with a schlieren optical method have shown that the air flows generated by a cough and normal breathing were modified by the oxygenation technique used, especially when using High Flow Nasal Canulae, increasing the shedding of potentially infectious airborne particles. This study also uses a 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics model based on a Lattice Boltzmann Method to simulate the air flows as well as the movement of numerous airborne particles produced by a patient’s cough within an ICU room under negative pressure. The effects of different mitigation scenarii on the amount of aerosols potentially containing SARS-CoV-2 that are extracted through the ventilation system are investigated. Numerical results indicate that adequate bed orientation and additional air treatment unit positioning can increase by 40% the number of particles extracted and decrease by 25% the amount of particles deposited on surfaces 45s after shedding. This approach could help lay the grounds for a more comprehensive way to tackle contamination risks in hospitals, as the model can be seen as a proof of concept and be adapted to any room configuration.

Vapor-selective active membrane energy exchanger for high efficiency outdoor air treatment

2021 ◽  
Vol 295 ◽  
pp. 116950
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Fix ◽  
James E. Braun ◽  
David M. Warsinger
Keyword(s):  
High Efficiency ◽  
Outdoor Air ◽  
Air Treatment ◽  
Active Membrane ◽  
Membrane Energy

scholarly journals Synergistic Effect of Nanophotocatalysis and Nonthermal Plasma on the Removal of Indoor HCHO

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanwei Lu ◽  
Dinghui Wang ◽  
Yuting Wu ◽  
Chongfang Ma ◽  
Xingjuan Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Synergistic Effect ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Photocatalytic Oxidation ◽  
Reaction Rate ◽  
Nonthermal Plasma ◽  
Pollutant Removal ◽  
Pollutant Concentration ◽  
Air Purification ◽  
Plate Electrode ◽  
Air Treatment

Photocatalysis is an effective method of air purification at the condition of a higher pollutant concentration. However, its wide application in indoor air cleaning is limited due to the low level of indoor air contaminants. Immobilizing the nanosized TiO2particles on the surface of activated carbon filter (TiO2/AC film) could increase the photocatalytic reaction rate as a local high pollutant concentration can be formed on the surface of TiO2by the adsorption of AC. However, the pollutant removal still decreased quickly with the increase in flow velocity, which results in a decrease in air treatment capacity. In order to improve the air treatment capacity by the photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) method, this paper used formaldehyde (HCHO) as a contaminant to study the effect of combination of PCO with nonthermal plasma technology (NTP) on the removal of HCHO. The experimental results show that HCHO removal is more effective with line-to-plate electrode discharge reactor; the HCHO removal and the reaction rate can be enhanced and the amount of air that needs to be cleaned can be improved. Meanwhile, the results show that there is the synergistic effect on the indoor air purification by the combination of PCO with NTP.

Innovative Draping Method to Mitigate Aerosolization During Coronavirus Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-76
Author(s):  
Kripa Dongol ◽  
Yogesh Neupane ◽  
Dipesh Shakya
Keyword(s):  
Viral Load ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Operating Room ◽  
Healthcare Workers ◽  
Operative Procedure ◽  
High Viral Load ◽  
Upper Airways ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Additional Form

Otolaryngologists are at high risk of acquiring coronavirus because most of the procedures are aerosol generating and we have to deal with upper airways which contain high viral load. The objective of this study is to elaborate the draping technique which diminishes aerosol in the operating room. Use of a framework and a drape with customized hand insertion ports help to contain the aerosol generated during the operative procedure. The draping technique acts as an additional form of protection from aerosol along with an increase in self-confidence to the healthcare workers during this pandemic.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document