This week IAQ Radio+ welcomes Ehsan Mousavi, PhD for a look at his work on Indoor Air Quality in Hospitals. We will focus on what we can learn and use from the hospital setting in other indoor environments. Dr. Ehsan Mousavi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Construction Science and Management (CSM) at Clemson University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska in 2015 and has served in various capacities in the construction industry including dam, road, and building construction projects. Collaborating on projects funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air‐Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), Dr. Mousavi has developed an extensive research background in the indoor air quality of hospitals. Specifically, he has studied the effect of environmental parameters (ventilation rate, ventilation arrangement, temperature, door motion, etc.) on the transmission and spread of pathogenic agents.

 

The average U.S. health-care facility uses three to five times more energy than a comparable size office building. More than two‐thirds of total energy consumption is dedicated to maintaining environmental control and indoor air quality. The main goal of Dr. Mousavi’s research is to appraise the effect of environmental parameters on the design, construction, operation, and maintenance (DCOM) of healthcare premises. In particular, questions are addressed as to how patient safety and the quality of care can be improved through attention to DCOM. The research results will be further implemented in the development of regulatory codes and standards.

 

Existing healthcare premises need to transition into newer and more effective facilities in response to growing demands. Due to the large expense of building a new facility and the increasing use of modular elements, renovation has shown to be an effective solution to providing reliable health care facilities. Hospitals cannot afford a complete shut‐down to proceed with renovation; that is, the “construction” zone and the “functioning” zone coexist in a renovation project to minimize the down‐time of the hospital. Under such conditions the two zones, hosting two vastly different types of contaminants, are adjacent and cross-contamination is highly plausible. Research is needed to systematically measure the current efforts to minimize the impact of construction on patient safety and comfort. Thus, Dr. Mousavi’s group of collaborators actively seeks to document the best practices performed by industry professionals, and to address questions as these measures’ effectiveness.

 

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