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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Upper-room Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI): What You Need to Know Before Buying

  |  November 22, 2022

Heightened interest in indoor air quality is coming from all corners of public and environmental health, including the CDC and the White House, creating a renewed focus on alternative methods for “air cleaning” or disinfection technologies. Improving indoor air quality is a worthwhile goal, but implementation must be done carefully and without harm. Generally, the...
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Finding Balance: Risk & Goals in Ventilation

  |  July 19, 2022

As COVID-19 precautions fall away, with the suspension of masking and social distancing requirements indoors in most locations, facility managers (FMs) may find that the next stage of the pandemic brings new challenges. While COVID cases have been much lower in recent months than during the height of the pandemic, it’s unlikely that FMs will...
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Evaluating Waterborne Pathogen Risks for a Stronger Water Management Plan

  |  April 21, 2022

Having an effective water management program has proven critical for minimizing patient exposure to a wide range of dangerous waterborne pathogens. In fact, one CDC study found that approximately 21% of HAIs can be transmitted via water. However, many hospitals have struggled with the development and implementation of a comprehensive water management program. Pathogens include...
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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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Compliance with The Joint Commission’s New Water Management Standard Relies on Risk Assessment

  |  September 13, 2021

Most healthcare facility managers already have in place a water management plan that outlines control measures for mitigating the risk of waterborne pathogens. Despite this, many of those same facility managers find themselves struggling with how to implement these plans in line with The Joint Commission’s (TJC) new water management program standard for the Hospital...
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