We breathe, on average, 12 times per minute, 720 times per hour, and 17,280 times a day, but how do we know that our healthcare buildings are safe and healthy when it comes to air quality? Renée Jacobs, Healthcare Business Development manager at Distech Controls, discusses the importance of good indoor air quality, and some of the steps that can be taken to maintain healthy indoor environments for all users of such facilities using ‘integrated systems and connected technology’.
We hear a lot about air quality and its undoubted impact on our wellbeing and health. But when we dig a little bit more on the subject, people are referring mostly to outdoor air quality. The general perception seems to be that we are exposed to outdoor pollution, but that once we are inside in the building, we are protected from air pollution. In a study made by French Consulting company, Elabe,1 52% of French, 60% of Belgian, and 62% of Shanghai residents were surprised to learn that we are exposed to more air pollution inside buildings than we are outdoors. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),2 indoor air quality is up to five times more polluted than outdoors
Healthcare settings are complex spaces that are constantly in use, and have various air quality requirements. According to analysis from City Hall, London, in 2022,3 despite improvements in air quality, every hospital, medical centre, and care home in the capital is in a location that breaches the World Health Organization's (WHO) guidelines for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5). The data showed that while 91% of hospitals and medical centres meet the legal limits set by the UK, they do not meet the stricter WHO guidelines for NO2, and all hospitals and medical centres fail for PM2.5. This reflects a 2018 study4 by the British Lung Foundation, which found that 2,220 GP practices and 248 hospitals in England were in areas where outdoor PM2.5 concentrations exceeded the WHO's recommended average annual levels of 10 µg/m3 (in 2021 WHO revised the guideline value for PM2.5 down to 5 μg/m3). In hospitals and healthcare environments, air quality has been found to have a profound impact on patient health.
A Boston-based physician, Dr. Stephanie Taylor, has undertaken years of research after realising that her patients in hospital were getting new infections despite extensive surface hygiene efforts, while her patients in a hospital in Papua New Guinea, with less resources, were not. What was the reason? This is where Dr. Taylor began to extend her research into how building architecture and air quality can have an effect on patients.
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