Containment Effectiveness of Expedient Patient Isolation Units

Details

• Personal Author:
  Johnson, Douglas L. ; Lynch RA ; Mead, Kenneth R.
• Description:
  Background: It is generally recognized that the health care system does not have adequate isolation capacity to meet the surge in demand during a major outbreak of airborne infectious disease. Alternatives to engineered isolation rooms undoubtedly will be required as surge isolation requirements exceed the available resources. The purpose of this work was to estimate containment efficiency of expedient airborne infectious isolation units with and without anterooms in the absence and presence of care provider traffic. Methods: Fluorescent 2-µm aerosol particles were released into the interior of expedient-construction isolation modules exhausted with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA)-filtered fan unit. Particle concentrations inside and outside the enclosure were measured with and without provider traffic simulated with a mannequin. Measurements were obtained on modules constructed with and without an anteroom, which was not separately ventilated. Results: Containment estimates were excellent for all isolation configurations evaluated, generally exceeding 99.7%. Particle escape was statistically significantly higher with simulated traffic than without; however, there was no statistically significant difference in particle escape with and without an anteroom. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that effective isolation may be possible using low-technology, low-cost, easily built structures that can be readily constructed within hospital and other environments in emergency response situations. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aerosols Air Pollutants, Occupational Communicable Diseases Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Occupational Health Particulate Matter Safety Ventilation
• Keywords:
  Aerosol-particles Airborne-particles Health-care-facilities Infection-control Infectious-diseases Ventilation-systems
• ISSN:
  0196-6553
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; Oklahoma ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 6
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  94-100
• Volume:
  37
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20034868
• Citation:
  Am J Infect Control 2009 Mar; 37(2):94-100
• Contact Point Address:
  David L. Johnson, PhD, PO Box 26901, CHB 139, Oklahoma City, OK 73126-0901
• Email:
  David-Johnson@ouhsc.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Infection Control
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:1d8b9aa5c147acb3aa4b711adaeae6444b7006b6d772771b250310fe144059b9066c609aa60e9d8b482fac90a16a5a65ea6762cf70ec5124333cd6cd1b619a57
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/186914/cdc_186914_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 180.38 KB ]