Some Aspects on Contamination Control in Hospitals- Observations and Measurements
Doctoral thesis, 2019

Measurements of the cleanliness level have been performed in operating rooms classified as tissue and cells establishments for bone tissue to compare the results with the requirements given in the Tissue and Cells Directives of the European Union (EUTCD). The results show that the requirements are not always fulfilled. Common deficiencies in maintenance of e.g., HEPA filters are reported.
 
A theoretical study describes the influence of door-openings to the microbial air cleanliness of ultraclean air operating rooms for infection prone surgery. The results explain why door openings sometimes increase the level of airborne bacteria-carrying particles in the operating rooms. Temperature differences increase the air volume flows through the door openings and differences in concentration levels increase the contamination risks.
 
A comparison is presented between airborne cleanliness requirements for pharmaceutical manufacturing (EU GMP Annex 1) and recommendations for ultraclean air operating rooms and differences are discussed

Source strength

Tissue and cells establishments

Ultraclean air operating rooms

Microbial cleanliness

Autoclaves

Contamination control

Door openings

Airborne contamination risks

SB-H8
Opponent: Prof. Guangyu Cao, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim

Author

Catinka Ullmann

Chalmers, Architecture and Civil Engineering, Building Services Engineering

Within hospitals the main source of contamination is microorganisms and some of them are antibiotic resistant. The number of airborne bacteria-carrying particles in operating rooms is considered as an indicator of the risk of infections to the patient undergoing surgery susceptible to infections, for example orthopedic prosthetic surgery. Example of other areas within hospitals with cleanliness requirement are sterile supply centers and tissue and cells establishments. Contamination control requires an understanding of the complete process and if only one parameter is failing, the cleanliness requirement may not be fulfilled for the environment and the patient safety may be reduced.
The purpose of this thesis is, by an engineering approach, to increase the understanding and awareness of some contamination risks in different
 environments of Swedish hospitals. The work is based on observations and results
 of measurements in different environments within hospitals with focus on contamination control.

Subject Categories

Surgery

Other Civil Engineering

Building Technologies

ISBN

978-91-7905-138-9

Doktorsavhandlingar vid Chalmers tekniska högskola. Ny serie: 4605

Publisher

Chalmers

SB-H8

Opponent: Prof. Guangyu Cao, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim

More information

Latest update

10/21/2019