Some 700,000 cases of surgical site infections occur each year, leading to time away from work, degraded life style, suffering, and in some cases, death. New research funded by ASHRAE is expected to decrease patient exposure to particles that cause these infections by enhancing design guidelines for hospital operating rooms.
The research is expected to verify earlier analysis that a protective thermal plume maintained above the surgical site will reduce the deposition of infectious particles. Results also could be used to improve air distribution engineering elsewhere in health care, such as patient protection rooms and infection isolation rooms, and in similar applications, such as industrial clean rooms.
For more information, visit www.ashrae.org/research.
