“Super Clean” Air Makes Surgery Safer for Orthopedic Patients
There’s an extra breeze of air in some
of the operating rooms at Halifax
Health Medical Center. That’s
because three of them are certified as
“Clean Air” rooms. It’s a designation that
helps reduce infections and improve
patient safety.
How It Works
Before air enters the Clean Air rooms, it passes through prefilters in the ceiling and then through HEPA filters in the walls. After that, the cleaned air is pushed back out over the patient and pulled out of the room through another vent.“The air is exchanged through two sets of filters 200 times an hour,” said Dennis Kennedy, head biomedical technician for Surgical Services.
The filters are changed regularly, and the system is certified annually.
A Safer Surgery
The Clean Air rooms are used for partial or full orthopedic implant surgeries. “Using the Clean Air rooms for these procedures reduces the risk for infection because the air that passes over patients is superfiltered,” said Lance Davin, Director of Surgical Services. “This means fewer contaminants are introduced into the surgical wounds.”The physician and surgical staff in the immediate area around the patient also work in fully enclosed suits to prevent any contaminants from getting into the patient’s wound during surgery.
Halifax Health created its first Clean Air room in 1986. “Hospitals aren’t required to have these types of rooms for these orthopedic surgeries, but it’s one more step we take at Halifax Health to ensure better patient care and safety,” said Kennedy.
As Davin described it, “It’s the closest thing we can get to NASA technology for cleaner air.”
