Spatial and temporal variations in indoor environmental conditions, human occupancy, and operational characteristics in a new hospital building

Ramos, Tiffanie; Dedesko, Sandra; Siegel, Jeffrey A.; Gilbert, Jack A.; Stephens, Brent

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118207

Title: Spatial and temporal variations in indoor environmental conditions, human occupancy, and operational characteristics in a new hospital building

Journal Article · Mon Mar 02 00:00:00 EST 2015 · PLoS ONE

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118207· OSTI ID:1191134

Ramos, Tiffanie ^[1]; Dedesko, Sandra ^[2]; Siegel, Jeffrey A. ^[2]; Gilbert, Jack A. ^[3]; Stephens, Brent ^[1]

Illinois Inst. of Technology, Chicago, IL (United States)
Univ. of Toronto, Ontario (Canada)
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Univ. of Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States)

The dynamics of indoor environmental conditions, human occupancy, and operational characteristics of buildings influence human comfort and indoor environmental quality, including the survival and progression of microbial communities. A suite of continuous, long-term environmental and operational parameters were measured in ten patient rooms and two nurse stations in a new hospital building in Chicago, IL to characterize the indoor environment in which microbial samples were taken for the Hospital Microbiome Project. Measurements included environmental conditions (indoor dry-bulb temperature, relative humidity, humidity ratio, and illuminance) in the patient rooms and nurse stations; differential pressure between the patient rooms and hallways; surrogate measures for human occupancy and activity in the patient rooms using both indoor air CO₂ concentrations and infrared doorway beam-break counters; and outdoor air fractions in the heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems serving the sampled spaces. Measurements were made at 5-minute intervals over consecutive days for nearly one year, providing a total of ~8×10⁶ data points. Indoor temperature, illuminance, and human occupancy/activity were all weakly correlated between rooms, while relative humidity, humidity ratio, and outdoor air fractions showed strong temporal (seasonal) patterns and strong spatial correlations between rooms. Differential pressure measurements confirmed that all patient rooms were operated at neutral pressure. The patient rooms averaged about 100 combined entrances and exits per day, which suggests they were relatively lightly occupied compared to higher traffic environments (e.g., retail buildings) and more similar to lower traffic office environments. There were also clear differences in several environmental parameters before and after the hospital was occupied with patients and staff. Characterizing and understanding factors that influence these building dynamics is vital for hospital environments, where they can impact patient health and the survival and spread of healthcare associated infections.

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Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1191134

Journal Information:: PLoS ONE, Vol. 10, Issue 3; ISSN 1932-6203

Publisher:: Public Library of ScienceCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 45 works

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