3 Questions to Answer Before Implementing ASHRAE 241

  |  September 25, 2023

The COVID pandemic demonstrated the essential role that ventilation and filtration can play in airborne pathogen mitigation and ensuring healthy indoor environments. Guidance on the appropriate levels of ventilation and filtration were generally established in the early days of the pandemic and were based on flushing rates required to reduce indoor airborne particle levels. In...
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When Proven Solutions Don’t Work

  |  August 4, 2023

Preventing Infection From Unexpected Sources Happens With Clear Communication Healthcare facilities have made huge strides in improving infection prevention and control, yet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that, on any given day, one in 31 hospital patients may acquire a healthcare-associated infection (HAI). No matter how effectively an organization plans to mitigate...
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4 Ways 24/7 Construction Monitoring Makes Healthcare Facilities Safer

  |  July 24, 2023

Construction presents significant infection risks to patients within any healthcare facility. Virtually every construction project generates dust that can carry fungal spores into patient areas, if construction areas and air from those areas are not appropriately isolated. This dust can prove deadly to sensitive immunocompromised populations. While healthcare construction professionals have become adept at the...
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Legionella Mitigation: Implementing a Targeted Response for Prevention

  |  November 23, 2022

When faced with a possible infection risk from Legionella colonization within a hospital water system, many health care systems take broad, buildingwide actions to stop the risk before it spreads, and they will continue to repeat those same actions without understanding the root cause. Common recommendations are to periodically add chlorine disinfectant (either low-level or...
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A facilities approach to preventing infection

  |  April 1, 2022

Over the past 10 years, the U.S. has made meaningful improvements in preventing health care-associated infections (HAIs), yet infections remain a major cause of death and disability. In addition to being incredibly dangerous to patients, HAIs also are costly because hospitals are generally not reimbursed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for treating...
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Air Tracing Studies: A Simple Strategy to Assess Infection Pathways

  |  February 10, 2022

Preventing hospital acquired infections remains an ongoing battle for many healthcare infection prevention and facilities management teams. Fortunately, new tools and strategies continue to emerge to help experts address potential infection risks. One such tool is an air tracing study, which identifies the pathways that infectious organisms can travel from their source to a compromised...
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6 Steps to Creating a Water Management Program for Your Healthcare Facility

  |  April 27, 2021

The problem of Legionella bacteria growth in complex water systems has been known for decades, but recent changes to regulatory requirements have created a compliance issue for many healthcare facilities. If your hospital doesn’t currently have an effective water management program implemented with effective “control measures”, it’s time to make creating one a priority. The...
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Creating More Resilient Healthcare Facilities: Steps to Take Today to More Rapidly Prepare for a Winter COVID Surge

  |  January 18, 2021

The winter surge of the COVID-19 pandemic is here. This time there is no epicenter, the spread of the virus has accelerated across the United States. Some healthcare systems just this summer were able to transition from COVID-dedicated spaces back to general patient care areas. Now they are faced with converting back again to respond...
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