Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) in intensive care unit

Sai Saran,Mohan Gurjar,Arvind Baronia,Vijayalakshmi Sivapurapu,Gautham M Raju,Pralay S Ghosh,Indubala Maurya

doi:10.1186/s13054-020-02907-5

Abstract

The aim of this review is to describe variation in standards and guidelines on ‘heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC)’ system maintenance in the intensive care units, across the world, which is required to maintain good ‘indoor air quality’ as an important non-pharmacological strategy in preventing hospital-acquired infections. An online search and review of standards and guidelines published by various societies including American Institute of Architects (AIA), American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of Health Estates and Facilities Division, Health Technical Memorandum 2025 (HTM) and Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) along with various national expert committee consensus statements, regional and hospital-based protocols available in a public domain were retrieved. Selected publications and textbooks describing HVAC structural aspects were also reviewed, and we described the basic structural details of HVAC system as well as variations in the practised standards of HVAC system in the ICU, worldwide. In summary, there is a need of universal standards for HVAC system with a specific mention on the type of ICU, which should be incorporated into existing infection control practice guidelines.

Highlights

Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) has a pivotal role in determining infection rates in the intensive care unit (ICU), apart from its primary purpose of providing comfortable living and safe environment for the patients, ICU staff and visitors [1, 2]
In order to understand the terminology used in describing the HVAC system, we described the basic types and
Indian guidelines mention filtration up to 99% efficiency till 5 μm, which is similar to the UK standards of using fine filtration with F7 [7, 8, 10–12]

Summary

Introduction

Ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) has a pivotal role in determining infection rates in the intensive care unit (ICU), apart from its primary purpose of providing comfortable living and safe environment for the patients, ICU staff and visitors [1, 2]. OA outdoor air, SA supply air, RA return air, EA exhaust air Recommended standards for HVAC system in the ICU from various professional societies and government bodies HVAC for a sterile area differs from that of a comfortable area in terms of created pressure differentials, air changes per hour (ACH), air velocity, air distribution patterns and filtration apart from comfort parameters like temperature and relative humidity [3].

Objectives

Results

Conclusion