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The New Standard for Isolation Room Air Quality

Everleigh Malley
February 21, 2022

The New Standard for Isolation Room Air Quality

In healthcare, containing the spread of airborne infectious diseases is an essential part of reducing occurrences of Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs). Isolation rooms help accomplish this by separating the sick from the immunocompromised.

Hospitals, nursing home facilities, and ambulatory care units use isolation rooms as a pivotal part of their infection control strategy. When a patient is extremely vulnerable, sterile air is vital to patient outcomes. HAIs are responsible for prolonged hospital stays, hospital readmissions, lost revenue, and even patient death.

Using sterilized air in a healthcare isolation room can lessen the risk of HAIs as well as promote patient recovery.

Negative Pressure Isolation

Negative pressure isolation rooms require HVAC systems with air filtration integration. Usually, these are to isolate patients with airborne infectious diseases. HVAC systems are seen as a critical component for isolation rooms, as they regulate airflow and temperature while providing ventilation.

The negative pressure system should be set up to exhaust contaminated air outside. This is done by placing the supply vent on the ceiling at the base of the patient’s bed. The exhaust vent is directly above the head of the patient. While this seems practical, this strategy doesn’t foresee airborne particle build-up that can now enter the air stream and infiltrate the air the patient breathes.

Most importantly, the doors and windows must be sealed so contaminated air does not enter the room. A minimum of 12 air changes per hour is required, with fresh air constantly being recirculated throughout the isolation room. From an energy and safety standpoint, this is not efficient and may impede efficacy as well.

SteriSpace overcomes this by being configurable to negative or positive pressure. Our technology only circulates sterilized air.

SteriSpace is an all-encompassing solution when it comes to air handling in healthcare scenes with isolation rooms. With the ability to integrate with standard HVAC systems and HEPA filtration, SteriSpace sterilizes the air with patented compressive heat technology. In cases of patient vulnerability, the very air they breathe can be a danger to patient progress. This is why sterilized air should be the standard when it comes to preventing infectious airborne disease transmission.

Isolation Rooms in Nursing Home Facilities

Nursing home deaths accounted for more than 22% of days in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In these homes, patients are housed in close quarters and can be extremely vulnerable to a number of airborne illnesses. To make matters worse, many nursing home facilities solely rely on HVAC systems to help control airborne disease transmission.

Air sterilization is crucial for the wellbeing of nursing home residents in isolation. Airborne infectious containment throughout the entire facility is something our loved ones deserve.

Many healthcare professionals believe that HVAC systems in combination with a negative pressure isolation room are adequate for controlling airborne infectious diseases. Yet, there are a unique set of challenges when it comes to setting up isolation rooms in nursing homes. Having multiple residents per room with a lack of barrier between them renders the isolation room ineffective. Standard HVAC systems aren’t going to rid the air of pathogens either. In fact, they will likely carry the viruses into other areas of the building instead.

Those with family members in nursing homes want nothing more than to know that their loved one is safe and healthy under someone else’s care. Adding SteriSpace as an isolation room solution can provide that much-needed peace of mind.

Isolation Rooms in Ambulatory Care

Ambulatory care has seen an increase in demand in recent years, largely due to its convenience and accessibility. Ambulatory care is defined as any type of care that is provided on an outpatient basis. This can include diagnostic care, consultation, infusion treatments, minor procedures, wellness checkups, as well as rehabilitative care.

While ambulatory care has become much more commonplace, it has also become a hub for airborne contamination. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), ambulatory care accounts for a majority of patient visits in the healthcare system. In certain ambulatory locations, isolation rooms are used to protect the immunosuppressed from airborne particles.

This creates undue risk for those with compromised immune systems.

Immunosuppressed individuals will typically rely on isolation rooms when receiving life-saving infusion treatments. Factors such as large volumes of people visiting these clinics on a daily basis, as well as a focus on surface disinfection instead of maintaining proper air quality all play a role in airborne disease transmission. People who seek ambulatory care go there to get better, not worse. Including air sterilization in an isolation room can make all the difference in a patient’s recovery.

SteriSpace is the Turnkey Solution You Need

It goes without saying that patients benefit from sterile environment isolation rooms. Adding SteriSpace is the added safeguard that patients need when they’re at their most vulnerable.

SteriSpace is a scalable unit that uses compressive heating technology to eradicate airborne pathogens, viruses, and bacterial spores. SteriSpace can be configured to create negative pressure in a room with contagious patients or create positive pressure to protect vulnerable patients – all while providing clean sterile air.

Facilities that see large volumes of people each day like urgent care clinics, infusion centers that treat immunocompromised individuals, and nursing homes should be considering the added benefits of air sterilization in their facility. With 99.9999% efficacy in combating airborne contaminants, healthcare professionals, as well as patients and their loved ones, can focus on recovery and getting back to their old selves.

Schedule a call with one of our dedicated air sterilization specialists to learn more about how SteriSpace can be the perfect addition to your isolation room.

The New Standard for Isolation Room Air Quality