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The HEPACART Blog

Are Dust Containment Standards Different for Children’s Facilities?

Dust containment is an essential piece of any facility’s infection control program. Without the right training and equipment for proper dust control, a simple maintenance task can put patient populations at huge risk.

At children’s facilities, including children’s hospitals, the risk of infection can be even greater. For infection control specialists as well as dust containment professionals, working in children’s facilities can be an opportunity to make a huge difference in the life of a vulnerable patient population. That opportunity, unfortunately, does not come without its risks.

Some Children Are Inherently Higher Risk

Overall, most of the infection risks associated with children’s hospitals are similar to those of adult hospitals, but often on a more severe scale. For example, many patients in an adult facility may be immunocompromised from an infection of illness. In a children’s healthcare facility, even those children who do not specifically suffer from an immune illness can have lowered immune defenses simply because of their age. Similarly, very young patients may not yet be eligible for the vaccines that adult patients should have had, putting them at specific risk for infections like measles and chickenpox.

Infection Control Challenges

In addition to the immune issues that are faced with pediatric patients, there are also infection control challenges to overcome that are due to the nature of children’s facilities. For example, young children are simply not as able to adhere to good hand hygiene or the ideal respiratory hygiene and therefore can more easily spread germs to their fellow patients. Further, children in hospitals are more likely to have many visitors, and more people coming into the facility means more opportunities to spread germs. Finally, even something as simple as the fact that children will play with toys that may be passed throughout the patient population puts them at further risk for infection as those toys can easily be contaminated.

Infection control training and adherence to those guidelines are essential in the children’s hospital environment. Hospital staff, of course, should be trained in infection control, but parents and visitors must also be vigilant in hand washing and in staying away from the facility if they are ill.

Dust Containment Systems for Children’s Facilities

Clearly, infection control is a challenge in children’s facilities, with a high-risk population and more pathogens to worry about. Dust containment can be an important part of the infection control protocol that keeps young patients safe. In fact, the HEPACART™ story starts in a children’s hospital, with our founder looking for a safe and efficient way to test the smoke detectors in a large children’s facility. Dust containment systems, including portable dust containment carts, AnteRooms, and temporary barriers can all be useful in a children’s hospital environment. While the official dust containment standards as set forth by the ICRA guidelines are not different for a children’s facility, vigilance in that environment of vulnerable patients is essential.

Dust containment systems are just one part of a comprehensive infection control policy at a children’s hospital. With the right training and properly maintained equipment, it is possible to protect pediatric patients from the spread of infections and illness during their hospital stay.

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