Clean air in hospitals and clinics helps protect patients and staff
Improving air quality in hospitals, clinics, doctor’s offices, and other health-care settings is a vital constituent of modern airborne hygiene procedures and an important occupational health and safety requirement in all medical institutions. Air cleaning provides a healthier and more pleasant environment for patients, staff, and visitors. It also makes economic sense due to its relevance as a preventative infection control measure.
Air filtration requirements vary by department
Health-care facility air quality requirements vary from department to department and often even from room to room. Some areas will require high-efficiency filtration of airborne microorganisms to protect patients, staff and visitors (e.g. in operation suites, Intensive Care Units (ICU) and Tuberculosis (TB) isolation rooms), whereas other areas call for gaseous contaminant, chemical and odor filtration to provide a safer and more pleasant working environment (e.g., in laboratories, autopsy rooms, dental surgery rooms, pharmacies).
It's exceptionally important to control airborne microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, and fungal spores in medical settings because many infections and diseases can be transmitted by airborne pathogens.
Infections are a concern
Nosocomial (hospital-acquired) infections are of particular concern. They can have serious consequences by increasing patient mortality, morbidity, length of hospital stay, and overall costs. Immunocompromised patients (such as organ and bone-marrow transplant recipients, oncology and hematology patients) are especially at risk as their immune systems are more vulnerable to infectious pathogens such as aspergillus (1).
IQAir stand-alone air cleaners have been shown to cut hospital aspergillosis infections by more than 50%. IQAir’s HyperHEPA filtration was used by the Hong Kong Hospital Authority to help protect staff and patients during the SARS-CoV-1 epidemic in 2003 and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (2).
IQAir's Cleanroom H13 air cleaner has been shown to reduce Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) contamination (3)(4).
IQAir also offers environmental control of chemical compounds and odors through filtration of ambient air, creation of pressure differentials (containment of chemical compounds and unpleasant odors through negative pressure areas) and through source capture (capture and filtration of chemical compounds and unpleasant odors at their source).
Resources
(1) Abdul Salam ZH, Karlin RB, Ling ML, Yang KS. The impact of portable high-efficiency particulate air filters on the incidence of invasive aspergillosis in a large acute tertiary-care hospital. Am J Infect Control. 2010 May;38(4):e1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2009.09.014. Epub 2010 Feb 2. PMID: 20129702.
(2) In independent laboratory testing, the IQAir air cleaner with HyperHEPA filter achieved 99.9% reduction of the Influenza A (H1N1) virus, and >99.9% reduction of Human coronavirus HCoV-229E (ATCC VR-740), and >99.9% reduction of Human enterovirus 71 (ATCC VR-1432).
