Ventilation and Indoor Air Quality in Hospitals

The contents of Ventilation and Indoor Air Quality in Hospitals are arranged in six main sections. The first section deals with the major issues related to indoor air quality in hospitals, reviewed from North American, Scandinavian, Italian and Russian perspectives. The second section discusses the ventilation requirements in hospitals, with particular focus on the design and maintenance of the ventilation systems and the provision of clean air to critical areas, such as infectious disease wards, surgical theatres, etc. The third section deals with chemical and biological air pollution in hospitals and collects papers from surveys carried out in various countries. Section 4 treats airborne allergens in hospitals. Health care personnel are having to deal with new problems as a result of exposure to allergens, and these are illustrated by studies performed in North America and England. Section 5 describes the technical aspects of ventilation in hospitals and strategies for air quality management, collecting technical and organizational proposals for solving some of the problems associated with ventilation in hospitals. The main conclusions and recommendations of the workshop are presented in section 6, together with some future actions that are envisaged.