This interdisciplinary guide offers background, research findings, and practical strategies for assessing and improving air quality in hospitals and other healthcare settings. Positing good air quality as critical to patient and staff well-being, it identifies disease-carrying microbes, pollutants, and other airborne toxins and their health risks, and provides localized interventions for reducing transmission of pathogens. Effective large-scale approaches to air quality control are also outlined, from green building materials to hygienic HVAC and air treatment practices. Its thoroughness of coverage makes this book a vital resource for professionals involved in every aspect of health service facilities, from planning and construction to maintenance and management. Among the topics covered: Existing guidelines in indoor air quality: the case study of hospital environments Hospital environments and epidemiology of healthcare-associated infections Analysis of microorganisms in hospital environments and potential risks Legionella indoor air contamination in healthcare environments HVAC system design in healthcare facilities and control of aerosol contaminants Assessment of indoor air quality in inpatient wards Indoor Air Quality in Healthcare Facilities imparts up-to-date expertise to a variety of professional readers, including hospitals' technical and management departments, healthcare facilities' chief medical officers, hospital planners, sport and thermal building designers, public health departments, and students of universities and schools of hygiene.

This book describes the Sustainable High Quality Healthcare (SustHealth) project, which had the goal of developing an original multidisciplinary evaluation tool that can be applied to assess and improve hospitals’ overall sustainability. The comprehensive nature of the appraisal offered by this tool exceeds the scope of most current rating systems, which typically permit a thorough evaluation of relevant environmental factors when designing a new building but fail to consider social and economic impacts of the design phase or the performance of the hospital’s operational structure in these fields. The multidisciplinary evaluation system was developed, from its very inception through to its testing, by following a scientific experimental method in which a global perspective was constantly maintained, as opposed to a focus only on specific technical issues. Application of the SustHealth rating tool to a currently functioning hospital, or one under design, will identify weaknesses and guide users to potential low-cost short-term solutions and longer-term strategies for improvement.

This book describes the Sustainable High Quality Healthcare (SustHealth) project, which had the goal of developing an original multidisciplinary evaluation tool that can be applied to assess and improve hospitals' overall sustainability. The comprehensive nature of the appraisal offered by this tool exceeds the scope of most current rating systems, which typically permit a thorough evaluation of relevant environmental factors when designing a new building but fail to consider social and economic impacts of the design phase or the performance of the hospital's operational structure in these fields. The multidisciplinary evaluation system was developed, from its very inception through to its testing, by following a scientific experimental method in which a global perspective was constantly maintained, as opposed to a focus only on specific technical issues. Application of the SustHealth rating tool to a currently functioning hospital, or one under design, will identify weaknesses and guide users to potential low-cost short-term solutions and longer-term strategies for improvement.

The book examines an integrated approach for addressing decisions about the location of healthcare facilities. Supported by Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), the approach provides comprehensive information on territory, taking into account the spatial dimensions. Due to the multiple criteria involved, site selection for urban facilities is a crucial topic in planning decision processes, especially for healthcare facilities. Healthcare provision policies generally fail to address the distribution of facilities within cities, entrusting decisions to various stakeholders. Moreover current evaluation tools focus on the intrinsic performances of healthcare structures, disregarding the extrinsic characteristics, namely those related to the location. Starting with a cross-disciplinary literature review, the book describes a multi-methodological approach for decision-making regarding the location of healthcare facilities, and presents an innovative evaluation tool that simultaneously considers functional, locational, environmental and economic issues, providing a comprehensive overview of the areas under investigation.

Through an approach strongly oriented to socio-health contexts and healthcare facilities, with multidisciplinary contributions on the methodological and technical aspects, or legislative issues, the book provides tools and design strategies to plan and realize therapeutic places and healing gardens for care, rehabilitation, interaction, and social inclusion. It addresses all the technical and medical professionals - like Architects, Urban Planners, Agronomist, Sociologists, Epidemiologists, Public Health experts, Policy Makers, etc. - wishing to explore the link between built environment, well-being, and health, referring in particular to the direct relationship between places and therapy.

This multidisciplinary book brings together medical, management, and architectural disciplines in order to formulate new approaches to the programming, planning, and design of healthcare facilities that will improve the quality of healthcare systems in rapidly developing countries, respecting local culture. It achieves this aim by drawing upon case studies on healthcare facilities and services that were undertaken in Kolkata, India, where the public healthcare system is meager and most people do not have access to health services. The approaches presented pay appropriate attention to technical aspects and organizational set-up and are designed to achieve an adequate healthcare assistance, greater production efficiency, better use of local professional resources, and careful control of construction. They are also intended to promote educational progress and future independence in construction and management of the healthcare system. The book will appeal to all with an interest in design and organizational strategies to meet new healthcare challenges in India and other emerging countries.