An Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality-funded report on healthcare-associated infections and healthcare facility design has been published in a special supplement to Health Environments Research & Design Journal.
The report, "Understanding the Role of Facility Design In the Acquisition and Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infections," provides in-depth analysis on design and HAIs from industry and university experts.
According to the report, efforts to reduce the number of HAIs have begun to expand beyond standardizing best practices in health care processes to include addressing the built environment.
The built environment refers not only to the structure of the hospital, the report said, but also includes the fixed components within the facility with which health care workers, patients, and families touch or interact. The facility is increasingly recognized as an important component in the transmission of pathogens.
The supplement includes a literature review, an industry analysis, a conceptual framework linking HAI prevention and design and analyses of HAI transmission through contact, air and water.
Read the report.
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