Negative pressure patients play a very important role in the treatment of COVID-19 patients and can be said to be "heroes" in the fight against the epidemic. So, will negative pressure wards make it difficult for patients to breathe? What is the function of negative pressure ward? I will introduce it below.
Will a negative pressure room make it difficult for patients to breathe?
The truth: The pressure difference between the inside and outside of the ward is extremely small and will not cause any discomfort.
Negative pressure ward refers to a ward where the air pressure inside the ward is lower than the air pressure outside the ward. It is mainly set up for patients with respiratory infectious diseases.
The conventional atmospheric pressure is 1.013×105 Pascal (pressure unit), while the pressure difference between the negative pressure ward and the conventional atmospheric pressure is only 25 Pascal. This pressure difference is difficult for ordinary people to detect. You won't feel any discomfort in the ward.
Since the air pressure in the negative pressure ward is lower than the air pressure outside the ward, the air can only flow in one direction. This ensures that fresh outside air can flow into the ward when medical staff enter and leave the ward. But the polluted air in the ward will not spread outside. The polluted air will not be discharged at will, but will be collected through special pipelines and discharged to a fixed place, and then discharged to the outside world after layers of filtration and disinfection.
What is the function of a negative pressure ward?
Since the air pressure in a negative pressure ward is lower than that of the outside world, fresh air from the outside can flow into the ward, but the air in the ward has been contaminated by patients. It will not be discharged directly, but will be discharged to high altitude after layers of treatment. In this way, the area outside the ward is safe and will not be contaminated, which greatly reduces the risk of infection. With the caring care of medical staff inside, it is the most suitable place for patients with respiratory infectious diseases such as COVID-19 to receive diagnosis and treatment.
Negative pressure wards can isolate viruses, cut off the chain of infection, and treat patients intensively.
Negative pressure wards use reasonable separation of cleanliness and dirt to simultaneously ensure the room pressure gradient from the two dimensions of physical isolation and air isolation to avoid cross-infection.
Specific requirements include the following aspects:
(1) Clean and dirty zones and pressure gradient: from clean area (medical workers do not need to wear protective clothing or isolation clothing) → Semi-contaminated area (also known as potentially contaminated area, medical workers need to wear protective equipment) → contaminated area (mainly patient admission and treatment area), it can be seen that the virus concentration ranges from low to high. In order to avoid air backflow and cause medical infection, Therefore, a reliable air safety solution is needed to design the pressure difference between adjacent rooms.
(2) Air flow organization: The fresh air sent into the room first passes through the breathing area of ??medical staff, then passes through the breathing area of ??patients, and finally flows from the high-efficiency exhaust port at the lower edge of the bed through the air duct, digital The fan and conical hood discharge at high altitude.
(3) Purification and filtration: There is no purification level requirement for negative pressure wards, but fresh air must be sent into the room after three-level filtration to dilute the virus through high-frequency ventilation while ensuring that the ward is clean to a certain extent. At the same time, the exhaust outlet is equipped with a high-efficiency filter (Class B) to block the virus transmission channel. In addition, it should be noted that during the final disinfection of the room, it is necessary to promptly sterilize in situ and replace the high-efficiency filter.
In general, negative pressure wards are very important for hospitals and can help patients recover to their health to the greatest extent. The ESV professional ventilation system is the core equipment of the negative pressure ward, which not only allows patients to breathe high-quality air, but also avoids cross-infection by medical staff or other external personnel.