Indoor Air Quality in Hospital Settings

Abstract

Many disease-causing microorganisms may have been introduced into the hospital’s interior air by clients, staff, students, visitors, inadequate ventilation, or the outside environment. Hospitalized patients are at a greater risk of nosocomial infection as a result of enclosed/restricted space, overcrowding, and inadequate infection prevention and control (IPC) practices, which create a favorable environment for microorganism growth. Therefore, an institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the indoor air bacterial load in different wards of the Hospital using passive air sampling techniques, and IPC compliance was evaluated using the World Health Organization IPC Assessment Framework (IPCAF) tool. In this study, the mean bacterial load ranged from 450±54.0 CFU/m3 to 1585.83±155.64 CFU/m3 after 60 minutes of culture media exposure. Gram-positive bacteria were the most commonly detected bacteria in hospital indoor environments, accounting for 51 (71%) of all detected bacteria. Fungi were found in 65 (90.3%) of the samples. The overall IPC compliance score in this study was 178/800 (22.25%), which was considered inadequate. The highest IPC compliance score in this study was 48%. Therefore, implementing IPC standards and regularly monitoring the bacterial load in the indoor air are essential for preventing the spread of microorganisms to visitors, patients, students, and healthcare workers.