HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS
ATT :
A.P.I.C.
“ELECTROMEDIA”
YOUR
SOLUTION
FOR
RISK
MANAGEMENT
Issued by: IT’S ALL ABOUT CLEAN AIR
now Mahalie Air, Inc.
Available 1995
RISK
MANAGEMENT
In todays world there are many issues facing the health care industry. Many of these challenges unfortunately are life threatening. In this letter I would like to investigate how we can manage the risk of transmission of two of the most serious challenges facing us today, AIDS and MDR TUBERCULOSIS.
In the first case scenario, we are talking about a disease that rendors its victims defenseless against disease. Many of these diseases are transmitted through the air. What can be done by health care facilities or providers to lessen the risk of these patients contracting serious, life threatening pathogens? While in a care facility they can be placed in isolation rooms that maintain 10 to 15 air changes per hour, diluting the air in the room to a point that the concentration of bacteria or virus is so low that the risk of contracting a disease is minimal.
But what happens to the cost of treating the patient, if there is no room available for the patient in which the air exchanges are that prolific, or the patient is released and is in a home care environment? There are answers available and at a very nominal investment in comparison to the construction of HVAC systems to effectuate high air exchange rates. Another potential problem is whenever an HVAC system employs a motor that will generate 2,000 cfm or more, it is tied into a system that will automatically shut when the fire alarm is activated. Then where are your protective air exchanges?
In reference to MDR Tuberculosis, we are probably all aware
of the FEDERAL REGISTER that was issued by C.D.C. on
At Atmospure, Inc., we know there are positive answers to these challenges. There are simple, cost effective methods of obtaining similar results. ELECTROMEDIA, a relatively new, patented technology, has been proven in clinical and field testing to remove bacteria and viruses from the air. With the ability to produce over 1000 cfm per unit, it is easy to design an installation to provide the required air exchange rates necessary to reduce concentrations to acceptable levels. These units are available with or without HEPA filters. From a portable system, to our ceiling mounted systems, they can be found in emergency treatment rooms, waiting rooms, near nursing stations, in broncosopy and sputum induction rooms, patient rooms…. The list could go on and on.
With national focus on the reduction of health care costs and our desire to improve the quality of life for the patients and health care workers alike, isn’t it time to investigate ELECTROMEDIA?
To have your prescription filled, call you ELECTROMEDIA representative at
(847) 736-2387
for a no cost, no obligation consultation. We thank you for your time, desire to maintain affordable and high quality care for your patients, and your concern for your employees.
How ELECTROMEDIA Helps YOU Meet or
Exceed the CDC
Guidelines dated
Supplement 3 – Engineering Controls
Issues include:
1. local exhaust ventilation (source control method)
2. general ventilation to decrease contamination of air and control direction of air flow.
a. dilution and removal of contaminants
b. room air flow patterns
c. facility air flow direction
d. room negative pressure
e. TB isolation rooms Air disinfection can be accomplished by UVGI or by filtration of air, such as through high-efficiency particulate air filters.
3. air cleaning
A. LOCAL EXHAUST VENTILATION
Purpose: to capture airborne contaminants at or near their source (source control method) and remove them without exposing persons in the area.
Types of source collection prevalent now: booths for spetum induction and/or pentamidine aerosolizing and test or hoods made of vinyl or other materials used to enclose and isolate a patient. Booths or tents should be equipped with exhaust fans with sufficient air flow to remove nearly 100% of airborne particles during the time interval between departure of one patient and arrival of another. The time factor depends on many things; number of air changes per hour, which is determined by the number of cubic feet of air in the booth or room, rate at which air is entering the booth or room at the intake source, location of the ventilation inlet and outlet, and the physical configuration of the room or booth. The exhaust fan should be on the discharge side of the HEPA filter at the booth discharge.
Exterior Devices:
An exterior hood is very near to, but not enclosing, the infectious source. Air flow should be sufficient to prevent cross-currents. The device may need to attain an air velocity of at least 200 fpm at the patients breathing zone into the hood to be effective. Patient to face hood.
Discharge from booths, tents, hoods:
Air should be exhausted directly to the outside of the building, away from intakes, people, and animals, and should not be located near areas that may be populated ie. Sidewalks, or possibly open windows. Exhaust discharges and inlets should prevent re-entry of exhaust air.
If direct exhaust impossible, hoods should only be exhausted within the facility through properly designed, installed, and maintained filtration.
B. General Ventilation
1. dilution and removal to reduce the concentration of contaminants in the air maintains air quality by two processes dilution and removal of airborne contaminants.
a. Systems
1. single pass where 100% room air exhausted to the outside
2. recirculating where small portion of total room air is discharged to the outside with a like amount fresh air brought into mix with the air in room to be recirculated. Recirculating systems can be used for general areas such as waiting or emergency rooms.
b. Ventilation Rates
1. expressed in Air Changes per Hour or the ratio of ventilation rate (volume of air entering room per hour) to room volume and is equal to the exhaust air flow. Q(cubic feet per minute) divided by the room volume V(cubic feet) times 60(ACH = Q/V x 60)
2. recommend 6 ACH for Isolation rooms and treatment rooms
c. Room Air Flow Patterns
Purpose: to prevent stagnation and to provide for optimum air flow patterns. Designed to
a. prevent stagnation
b. prevent “short circulating” of supply to the exhaust. The pattern should direct clean air to areas where HCW are likely to be, across infectious source, then to exhaust.
NEGATIVE PRESSURE
Attained by exhausting air from area at higher rate than it is being supplied.
Purpose: to prevent airborne contaminants escaping from a room.
Air will flow from higher pressure to lower pressure areas.
4. a] pressure differential necessary to achieve and maintain negative pressure in a room is very small and may be difficult to measure.
It can be achieved by balancing the room supply and exhaust flows to set the exhaust flows to a value 10% (but no less than 50 cfm) greater than the supply. A pressure differential of 0.001 inch of water and an inward velocity of 100 fpm are minimum acceptable levels.
b] monitoring should occur periodically with smoke tubes or air velocity measuring device to assure desired negative pressure condition is present.
Anterooms
If the anteroom has air supply, the flow to the anteroom should be set equal to the difference between the room supply and exhaust flows. This should result in pressure positive with respect to the room and neutral with respect to the corridor. If the room has no air supply, it is still useful and should still be positive with respect to the room and negative with respect to the corridor.
Rooms with Recirculating Systems
Negative pressure can be achieved by removing the room exhaust from the system return and ducting it to the outside.
FILTRATION
Purpose: to remove contaminants from the air
1] When it is impossible for air from TB isolation rooms and local exhaust devices to be exhausted directly outside, it is necessary for the air to be filtered through a 99.97% DoP efficient filter before recirculating to other areas of the facility.
2] Recirculation of filtered air in a room can be achieved by recirculation of air exhausted from the room into a duct filtered with an in-duct HEPA filter and returned to the same room or in room, wall-mounted or portable filters.
a] Individual room recirculation can be used in areas where there is no general ventilation system, where the system is incapable of providing adequate air flow, or where an increase in dilution is desired without affecting the fresh air supply or negative pressure system already in place.
b] effectiveness is dependent upon all the air in the room circulating through the filter. Efficacy will be dependent on configuration of the room, furniture, persons in the room, placement of supply and exhaust grilles, and the units placement.
How ELECTROMEDIA Helps YOU Meet or
Exceed the CDC
Guidelines dated
ELECTROMEDIA DOES………
Starting with page 52832 of the Federal Register
Due to the efficacy of our ELECTROMEDIA, the system can not
only provide the 200 fpm capture velocity, but when the contaminant reaches the
filter, it will be destroyed by our patented electronic field. This statement is backed up by the efficacy
testing at
Looking at the section on general ventilation and the discussion in the guidelines for dilution to reduce the concentrations of contaminants, is it not more advisable to remove and destroy the organisms and allow the discharge of contamination into the outside air? Again from an air cleaning point of view, we feel it is much more desirable to remove and destroy. As for Air Exchange Rates, we have found, through our research and development, with an Air Exchange Rate of 4 minutes, we can provide a 90% to 95% reduction of nosocomial risk even with Mycobacterium. There is no other system that can offer proof of this claim from an independent lab.
Some manufacturers have portable systems that have the intake approximately 40-48 inches from the floor and then exhaust to the floor, sometimes through UV lights of various wattages and wavelengths. Some facilities are associated with this type configuration and they are as follows:
A. The intake is high to “source capture” contaminants. This is impossible with CFM’s of between 400 – 800 at a distance of many feet. Plus;
B. When there is exhaust to the floor, contaminants are brought back into the respirable areas of both the HCW and the patient that had been rendered irrespirable and harmless.
C. Some systems rate their CFM before filters are installed and the extra static pressure drops their true CFM. ELECTROMEDIA rates their CFM with all three stages of filters in place for a truer picture of what effectiveness can be expected.
With 99.97% efficiency on the .3 Micron DoP test, Proven destructive properties even with Mycobacterium, and the ability to produce a 0.001” negative pressure velocity under a door of 100 FPM, ELECTROMEDIA can provide the most effective, cost efficient method of Risk Reduction available today. Questions? Call (847) 736-2387 and a representative will be happy to assist you.