ICORP GROUP · INSIGHTS
Hospital HVAC & Indoor Air Quality: Facility Management Meets Patient Safety
Hospital air conditioning system is not only responsible for cooling the area, but also affects the air quality. Continuity of service, comfort of patients and staff, including risk control in certain areas. Therefore, HVAC should be managed in conjunction with Clinical Requirement and Facility Risk.
Each floor with different requirements
Office, patient room, hospital, surgery, separation or support area have different operating characteristics and risks. The hospital should define the Critical Area clearly and level monitoring and maintenance according to the importance of the area.
Temperature and Humidity should be seen in the context of use.
Unsuitable temperature and moisture may affect comfort, the operation of equipment, material or certain types of processes. Therefore, there should be a tracking criteria that reference, specifications related to the area and actual equipment. It should not apply one value for every part of the hospital.
Pressure Relationship Should Be Inspected After Area Changes
If there is a renovation, change the door, adjust the wall, move the machine or change the mode of operation. It may affect the airflow and pressure relationship of the area by intention. The Facility Team should be brought to check before and after the project.
Filter and Preventive Maintenance to be connected with Risk
Changing Filter or maintenance system should reference the conditions of use, manufacturer advice and Criticality of the area. It has a recording system that allows the team to see the work, history of problems and trends that need to be solved systemically.
Downtime of HVAC requires Clinical Response
If the air system of a major area is injured. The question does not end up with how many hours to repair, but it is necessary to know whether the service is still running. Do you need to move the patient or stop some activity? And who is the decision-maker, Facility and Clinical Team should plan together in advance.
Indoor Air Quality requires multiple data.
Claims, smell, dust, construction, moisture and the results of the rolling system inspection are data that help the team better assess the environment. If a repeated problem is found, it should be found the cause above, instead of the front-end solution.
The administrative guidelines should be
- Critical Area Register
- PM Schedule according to Risk and Manufacturers
- Monitoring and Escalation Criteria
- Downtime / Contingency Plan
- Change Control when Renovation or change the use of space
- Trend Review for Repeated Problems
ICORP provides facility maintenance and support and healthcare facility improvement services, which can help review PM systems, facility risks and coordination between system work and service area according to the Scope of each project.
Note: Engineering standards and HVAC requirements require a reference to the law, technical standards, manufacturers and responsible experts of each area. This article focuses on the system management framework.