The clean room techniques developed for the space and electronics industries, where a contamination-free atmosphere is often required, may offer a means of limiting air-borne bacteria within the hospital.
Experimental and clinical trials at Bataan Memorial Methodist Hospital, Albuquerque, NM; Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; Cook County Hospital, Chicago; and other medical institutions, indicate that the maintenance of an ultrafiltered, directional air flow significantly reduces the level of air-borne bacteria.
Investigators told a symposium in Boston sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation that potentially the method has use in operating rooms, nurseries, isolation wards, autopsy rooms, laboratories, and storerooms for sterile supplies.
Operational details vary, but all clean rooms employ the same principle: particles are removed from the air by maintaining within the room the uniform movement of a large volume of ultra-filtered air.
Air turbulence must be kept to a minimum, and for this reason clean