EVALUATION OF HOSPITAL WARDS INDOOR AIR QUALITY: THE PARTICLES CONCENTRATION

Introduction: Indoor air quality in hospitals plays an important role in prevention of infectious disease and inhibits the transmission of infections to staff and patients. The aim of this study is to evaluate the indoor air quality and its relation with environmental air in one of the public hospitals in Qazvin. This cross-sectional study was carried out in a densely occupied educational hospital affiliated with Qazvin University of Medical Sciences. Materials and methods: In this study, several factors those affect the air quality (including carbon dioxide, temperature, relative humidity, and particulate matters sized PM10, PM2.5, and PM0.3) were measured using direct measurement data logger tools in different wards of hospital in various weather conditions. All data obtained was analyzed by SPSS 20. Results: The collected data was analyzed using SPSS with a confidence interval of 95% and α=0.05. The mean 24 h concentrations of PM10, PM2.5 and PM0.3 were 83.09, 21.47 and 1.6 μg/m3 at indoor parts of the hospital, respectively. The highest concentrations were observed in men cardiac, women internal, and women cardiac wards. The mean 8 h concentration of carbon dioxide, temperature, and relative humidity were significantly associated with American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standards. Conclusions: The highest Indoor to outdoor air quality ratio for particulate matters was PM10=3.75 in men cardiac ward, PM2.5=2.6 in women internal ward and PM0.3=1.31 at women cardiac ward. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards, the air quality is divided in several categories based on the concentration of particulate matters, and in this study the level of air quality was moderate. Air quality can be improved to optimal levels and pollutants can be reduced through corrective measures such as suitable and efficient ventilation system and further measurements