Explore Impact Factors of the Indoor Air Quality of the Respiratory Care Wards of a Regional Hospital in Northern Taiwan

• Main Authors: Chen wan yi, 陳婉宜
• Other Authors: Yuwen Lin
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/54d795

碩士 === 輔仁大學 === 公共衛生學系碩士班 === 97 === Introduction The hospital is a complicate and special environment. Various biological specimens, drugs and chemicals exist in this particular environment. The medical staff expose to such environment with uncountable hazards. The inpatients are usually hypersensitive groups and may need to stay in the hospitals for a long time. They are also prone to be disturbed by the indoor air quality (IAQ) of the hospital. Respiratory care wards (RCW) are responsible to care the patients who can not spontaneously breathe without the respirators. These patients are easily to be infected usually. Compared to the bacteria concentrations of other hospital units, RCW came with higher values usually. This research monitored the IAQ of the RCW by checking the compliances of the recommendation limits of Taiwan Environmental Agency (EPA). Meanwhile the influential factors of IAQ and the impacts of respirator modules, with humidifier or with filter, were investigated. Method The RCW of a regional hospital was surveyed. The IAQ of two five-bed wards and one nurse station were monitored. The sampling duration was 20 minutes per hour of each room during the sampling day. The monitoring was proceeded for 16 hours on the four sampling days of December 2008. Another four days in February 2009 were continuously monitored for 24 hours. The concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), relative humidity (RH), temperature, particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxide (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured by direct reading instruments. The bioaerosol samples were taken hourly to count the total bacteria and fungi colonies. The hourly air change rate (ACH) was calculated by measuring the air ventilation volume. Human activities were recorded during the sampling period simultaneously. All statistical analyses were performed by SPSS 12.0. The linear mixed model (LMM) was applied to illustrate the impact factors of IAQ and established the prediction models of IAQ of the RCW. Result Several concentrations of CO, CO2, PM, bacterial and fungi did exceed the EPA recommendation levels for this particular RCW. The major factors to affect the CO, PM1 and PM2.5 concentrations were location and the number of inpatients according to the LMM regression results. The significant factors to alter the CO2 and VOC concentrations were location and the numbers of in-and-out staff and inpatients. The number of in-and-out staff and the level of activity affected the PM10 value statistically. The level of activity and the numbers of in-and-out staff and inpatients are the significant factors in changing the bacteria and fungi concentrations. The relative humidity did not alter by the environmental factors. The results of LMM can be utilized to predict the pollutant concentrations under various environmental conditions. Conclusion The concentrations of CO and CO2 of nurse station were higher than those of two investigated wards, though the ACH rate was two to three times of those of the wards. Different modules of respirators did not affect the IAQ significantly. The results of this study can be a valuable reference for infection control of RCW.