Air-conditioning technology specialist, Weiss Klimatechnik, believes it has developed one of the world’s first systems for continuous monitoring, and, where necessary, adjustment of laminar air flow quality and purity during, rather than prior to, surgical procedures, a technology it believes could substantially reduce rates of post-operative wound infection.
Until now, explains Rupert Mack, general manager of the Mediclean business unit that will market the new Mediclean CPM technology globally, the air flow supplied by laminar flow systems is generally set once, during commissioning, and thereafter never changed; it is rare, he says, for air purity to be accurately monitored or adjusted during surgery, an anomaly Weiss Klimatechnik is determined to address.
Agerm-free operating theatre is a quality objective of all hospitals, and an understandable concern for all patients. The established routes towards achieving this goal include improving hygiene measures and operating techniques, as well as the use of special ceiling-mounted theatre ventilation and air flow systems, which keep airborne particles and germs away from the operating field by maintaining a lowturbulence displacement flow (LTF). DIN standards are used to determine whether such laminar flow systems are performing to within specified parameters. However, measurement of air quality and purity is generally undertaken only when engineers or maintenance personnel are carrying out servicing of equipment or recommissioning, times during which the operating theatre is not in use and empty. Up until now, in Weiss Klimatechnik’s experience, the air flow rate from ceilingmounted ventilation and laminar flow systems may well never be adjusted once it has been set during commissioning. Now, however, Weiss is launching a system that converts the static set-up into a dynamic process; Weiss Mediclean Continuous Particle Monitoring (CPM) continuously monitors the air purity inside the operating theatre while surgery is in progress, and automatically adapts the air flow rate to optimise air quality and purity. The system simultaneously logs and records this process for quality assurance or further data processing.
Hazards from hospital germs
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