| Abstrakt: |
Background and Objective: Hundreds of millions of patients are annually affected by nosocomial infections worldwide, the most important complications of which are mortality and imposition of financial burdens on health systems. The maintenance of adequate indoor air quality (IAQ) at hospitals is critical to the prevention of these infections. The evaluation of IAQ can be performed through bioaerosol sampling and particle counting. Regarding this, the present study aimed to evaluate IAQ by investigating bioaerosol concentration and particle counting in various wards of a hospital in Qazvin province, Iran. Materials and Methods: This descriptive, analytical, and cross-sectional study was conducted on air samples obtained from seven wards of a hospital in Qazvin. Air samples were taken according to the standards of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health using the Andersen impactor equipped with tryptic soy agar and Sabouraud dextrose agar media at a flow rate of 28.3 L/min for 10 min. The samples were incubated, then counted in terms of CFU/m3. The counting of particulate matters was accomplished using China Way CW-HPC200 (A). Results: The lowest mean fungal and total concentrations were observed in the pathology department and laboratory, while the highest concentration was detected in the Intensive Care Unit and Coronary Intensive Care Unit. The mean PM2.5 and PM0.3 were obtained as 189 n/m3 and 100499 n/m3, respectively. The results of the Spearman test revealed a significant correlation between the total microbial concentration and PM0.3 (P=0.003). Conclusion: As the findings indicated, bioaerosol concentration was higher in the hospital than in outdoor. This might be related to the presence of patients, their activities, as well as unsuitable ventilation and disinfection. Therefore, continuous monitoring, enhancement of hygienic disinfection standards, and promotion of ventilation systems are needed to improve IAQ, especially in the hospital wards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
