This interdisciplinary guide offers background, research findings, and practical strategies for assessing and improving air quality in hospitals and other healthcare settings. Positing good air quality as critical to patient and staff well-being, it identifies disease-carrying microbes, pollutants, and other airborne toxins and their health risks, and provides localized interventions for reducing transmission of pathogens. Effective large-scale approaches to air quality control are also outlined, from green building materials to hygienic HVAC and air treatment practices. Its thoroughness of coverage makes this book a vital resource for professionals involved in every aspect of health service facilities, from planning and construction to maintenance and management. Among the topics covered:

• Existing guidelines in indoor air quality: the case study of hospital environments

• Hospital environments and epidemiology of healthcare-associated infections

• Analysis of microorganisms in hospital environments and potential risks

• Legionella indoor air contamination in healthcare environments

• HVAC system design in healthcare facilities and control of aerosol contaminants

• Assessment of indoor air quality in inpatient wards
  Indoor Air Quality in Healthcare Facilities imparts up-to-date expertise to a variety of professional readers, including hospitals' technical and management departments, healthcare facilities' chief medical officers, hospital planners, sport and thermal building designers, public health departments, and students of universities and schools of hygiene.

  Offers a multidisciplinary approach to the analysis of air pollution in confined environments Presents information on indoor air quality in architectures for health Defines strategies aimed to improve the quality of hospital environments for their users Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

  Autorentext
  Stefano Capolongo, PhD , is an architect with a PhD in Public Health. He is associate professor at Politecnico di Milano and professor at the School of Specialization of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine at University of Milan and University of Parma. Prof. Arch. Capolongo is author of more than 200 scientific publications, and conducts research and scientific collaboration in the design for themes like building hygiene, environmental sustainability, and social-health architecture.
  Gaetano Settimo, PhD , is researcher at Istituto Superiore di Sanità in the Department of the Environment and Primary Prevention in Rome, Italy.
  Marco Gola is an architect and PhD candidate at Politecnico di Milano in Milan, Italy. He specializes in architecture for sustainability, hospital planning, and construction.

  Inhalt
  Foreword: Improving the Hospital's Indoor Air Quality.- Indoor Air Quality in Healing Environments: Impacts of Physical, Chemical, and Biological Environmental Factors on Users.- Existing Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality: The Case Study of Hospital Environments.- Applications of IAQ Monitoring in International Healthcare Systems.- Hospital Environments and Epidemiology of Healthcare-Associated Infections.- Analysis of Microorganisms in Hospital Environments and Potential Risks.- Legionella Indoor Air Contamination in Healthcare Environments.- Environmentally Friendly and Low-Emissivity Construction Materials and Furniture.- HVAC System Design in Healthcare Facilities and Control of Aerosol Contaminants: Issues, Tools, and Experiments.- HVAC Management in Health Facilities.- Assessment of Indoor Air Quality in Inpatient Wards.- Perspectives of Air Quality Control in Healthcare Facilities: Conclusions.- Index