Negative Air Pressure Room Requirements

The pressure relationship for the anteroom shall either be positive in relation to the aii pe room and corridor or negative in relationship to the aii pe room.

Negative air pressure room requirements. Terminal cleaning should occur after sufficient time has elapsed for enough air changes to remove potentially infectious particles as indicated in the cdc. In medical settings these rooms prevent the spread of infectious contaminants and maintain sterile or restricted spaces and are also referred to as protective environments positive pressure rooms and airborne infection isolation rooms aiir negative pressure rooms. Negative pressure isolation room including ensuite and anteroom class q quarantine isolation. 35 120 241 249 250 fans create sufficient positive pressure to force air through the building duct work and adequate negative pressure to evacuate air from the conditioned space into the return duct work and or exhaust thereby completing the circuit in a sealed system figure 1.

A negative pressure isolation room is commonly used for patients with airborne infections. The room requires labelling as a negative pressure isolation room. Negative pressure in isolation rooms. Health care facilities generally use recirculated air.

The cdc healthcare infection control practices advisory committee hicpac guidelines for environmental infection control in healthcare facilities contain additional information on negative pressure room. Although covid 19 is currently not considered to be an airborne disease according to the cdc a patient known to have contracted the coronavirus can spread it person to person. Verify negative pressure prior to placing room in service and continuously monitor negative pressure while in service. The mechanism of a negative pressure room is rather simple.

Negative pressure rooms prior to anticipated aerosol generating procedures but this is not required for safety of the staff in the room at the time of the procedure. Note that many operating rooms and procedure rooms are equipped with hvac systems that deliver a high number of air exchanges per hour ach. Naturally air flows from high pressure to low pressure. 2 doors should be self closing.

Air conditioning systems for negative pressure isolation rooms should be connected to an emergency power supply to maintain air pressurisation in the event of a power failure. Ensure that the room air exhausts directly to unoccupied areas outside of the building or passes through a hepa filter if recirculated. Effective positive and negative pressure rooms are an important part of industrial climate control systems. 3 the room should be well sealed this includes sealing of the ceiling and gaskets around items which enter into the room e g.

Supply air for the room must be located in the ceiling above the patient bed with return air taken from the ceiling near the patient room door similar to a standard pe isolation room. 1 minimum of 12 air changes per hour. Limit patient transport and patient transfers in and out of the room. An airtight containment structure and calibrated hvac system ensure that the negative room externally exhausts any aerosols while also introducing fresh conditioned.