Hospital design is key for infection control, focusing on separating clean/dirty zones, ensuring good ventilation, lighting, storage, and facilities like wash basins/single beds. Ward units, ICU, theatresa, CSSD, Laundry, isolation wards etc. are planned with updated info on infections. Identifying design risks and engineering controls to reduce airborne infections are emphasized.
The team of Medpoint infection prevention and infection control consultants provide nationwide services to the healthcare sectors and is well known for the expertise and value that clients receive when utilizing the Expertise services.
Expert-Led Infection Prevention Solutions
Our team of multi-disciplinary experts, including Certified Infection Preventionists (CIC) and epidemiologists, combine decades of frontline experience with the latest evidence-based practices to help your organization reduce healthcare-associated infections, address sterilization gaps, enhance infection prevention and control plans, and effectively manage and control outbreaks. Our onsite assessments help identify and mitigate infection risks to drive measurable improvements across organizations.
Scope of Service
Evidence-based hospital design is a crucial strategy for preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and improving patient outcomes. By considering material choices, spatial layout, and advanced air management, hospital designers can create environments that minimize pathogen transmission and promote patient safety. The best hospital designs integrate infection control principles into every aspect, from architectural layout and airflow to surface materials and waste management.
Architectural layout and patient flow
A key strategy in infection control design is minimizing the risk of cross-contamination by separating high-risk and low-risk areas.
Segregate high-risk areas: Create clear, functional segregation between different hospital zones, such as outpatient departments, intensive care units (ICUs), and operating theatres (OTs) CSSD. This prevents the intermingling of diverse patient groups and minimizes the spread of pathogens.
Create clean and dirty corridors: Design separate pathways for the movement of clean supplies and contaminated materials, including linen and waste. This separation is crucial for preventing the transfer of germs from dirty areas to sterile ones.
Strategically place isolation rooms: Dedicate a specific number of single-patient rooms equipped with hand-washing facilities and ensuite bathrooms. For contagious diseases, airborne infection isolation rooms (AIIRs) with negative pressure are essential to contain airborne pathogens. For immunocompromised patients, protective environment (PE) rooms with positive pressure protect them from contaminants.
Air management and ventilation
Proper air handling is one of the most important engineering controls for preventing airborne infections.
Air pressure differentials: Air pressure should be carefully managed to prevent the spread of airborne pathogens. Positive pressure rooms, which maintain higher pressure inside than in adjacent areas, are used for protecting immunocompromised patients (e.g., in bone marrow transplant units). Negative pressure rooms, which keep lower pressure inside, are for isolating patients with highly contagious airborne illnesses like tuberculosis.
Directional airflow: Design ventilation systems that direct airflow from clean areas to less-clean areas, with the air from infectious zones exhausted safely away from public spaces and air intakes. For isolation rooms, this means air flows from the hallway into the patient room.
High-efficiency filters: Use high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters in critical care areas like OTs, ICUs, and burn units. These filters can capture at least 99.97% of airborne particles 0.3 microns or larger, including bacteria and viruses.
Appropriate air changes: Ensure HVAC systems deliver the required number of air changes per hour (ACH) for different hospital areas. For example, guidelines recommend at least 12 ACH for isolation rooms and 25 ACH for operating rooms.
Material and surface selection
The choice of materials can greatly impact how easily germs can spread and accumulate on surfaces.
Non-porous and seamless surfaces: Specify non-porous, resilient materials that are resistant to frequent cleaning and harsh disinfectants. Surfaces should have minimal seams, crevices, or joints that can harbor pathogens. Examples include solid surfacing materials, sheet vinyl flooring, and epoxy resin flooring.
Antimicrobial materials: Integrate naturally antimicrobial materials, such as copper and silver alloys, into high-touch surfaces like door handles, light switches, and bedrails. These materials actively reduce the presence of pathogens.
Easy-to-clean design: Implement design features like rounded drywall corners and wall-mounted equipment to eliminate difficult-to-clean spaces and minimize dust accumulation.
Robust and resilient finishes: Materials must be durable enough to withstand frequent, rigorous cleaning with harsh chemicals without deteriorating, which could create surfaces that harbor pathogens.
Strategic placement of facilities
Hand hygiene is arguably the single most effective method for preventing HAIs. Facility layout plays a crucial role in promoting compliance.
Convenient hand-washing stations: Place hand-washing sinks with hands-free operation and alcohol-based hand rub (ABHR) dispensers at every point of care, including the foot of each patient bed, outside patient rooms, and in hallways.
Dedicated sinks: Separate clinical hand-washing sinks from sinks used for cleaning equipment and disposing of waste to avoid cross-contamination.
Minimize touchpoints: Incorporate touchless technology, such as automatic doors, motion-activated faucets, and sensor-activated paper towel dispensers, to reduce physical contact with frequently touched surfaces.
Zoning and screening at entry points
Controlling the flow of people and identifying potential risks at the entrance can contain infectious diseases before they spread.
Screening areas: Design a separate, designated area at the hospital entrance for screening patients based on travel history, fever, and other infectious symptoms, especially during an outbreak.
Febrile patient zones: Create a separate "fever area" in the Emergency Department with its own entrance and upgraded ventilation to manage potentially infectious patients away from the general population.
Wayfinding: Use clear, intuitive signage and pathways to guide patients and visitors to their destinations efficiently and prevent them from entering restricted or high-risk areas.
Flexibility and modularity
Adaptive architecture: Designing hospitals with flexible and adaptable layouts and modular units allows facilities to quickly reconfigure spaces in response to changing patient needs or during an infectious disease outbreak. This resilience is vital for emergency preparedness.
0 Comments