The HVAC system in your home uses an air filter to try and capture the particulate matter residing in your home. This filtration works well for stopping pet dander, but it’s hardly up to the task of blocking harmful bacteria from penetrating a patient’s immune system. Hospital HVAC units have a much tougher job on their hands. Air quality is extremely important in hospitals, especially those dealing with disease and infection every day.
Benefits
Patients who kept in a controlled environment tend to improve their physical condition much faster. Take patients who suffer from Thyrotoxicosis. These patients suffer when put into environments that are too hot or humid. Portable air conditioning lowers the patient’s room temperature, and rids the room of some of that moisture. Patients undergoing radiation treatment also suffer a loss of heat, unless they are kept in a cool and dry room. Cardiac patients may be unable to maintain the necessary blood circulation of the body, which leads directly to heat loss. Literally, HVAC units in hospitals can save lives.
Specific Examples
You might notice that a hospital is usually kept cold, almost frigid to the tastes of some. This is for the benefit of the patient, even if it doesn’t seem like it at first glance. Cardiac arrest wards consider cold temperatures therapeutic. Patients with brain damage can develop hypothermia in warm conditions due to a disturbance in the brain’s ability to recognize heat. Patients that experience the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis tend to react best to lower humidity, which is directly related to air flow. In some cases, hospitals will use a rental air conditioner to cool a specific room or control levels of humidity.
Requirements
Air flow inside of a hospital presents some strategic challenges. In a home, where the number of people in a room is largely limited to a handful of bodies, air can circulate freely with little cause for concern. In a hospital, there are many requirements that patients need to survive. Some require warmer and more humid air. Others have a disease that is passed through particulates in the air, while some patients may have a compromised immune system that makes them more susceptible to airborne illness.
Final Thoughts
It’s important for hospitals to have heavy duty filters that block harmful particulates, especially in areas like the laboratory. Without these units, cross contamination would be a huge problem for medical professionals.
———————————————————————————————————————-
Movin Cool sells portable air conditioner units for a variety of industrial applications. Shop for HVAC units for use in hospitals and server rooms when you browse Movin Cool online.