Spilt System Air Conditioners in patient areas

[sraffle@hotmail.com]

Hi everyone,

Is anyone able to please provide me some clarity regarding reverse cycle air conditioners in patient care areas? specifically in outpatient / community based clinic rooms.

A number of our community health centre clinical rooms (dental & podiatry) are looking at upgrading split system air-conditioning units, however I found some information in the Australian Health Facilities Guidelines (Physical Environment) advising that spit systems should be avoided in patient care areas, I couldn’t find anything in NHMRC guidelines though.

Is anyone able to please provide some clarity on whether they are appropriate or not? we have more due to be installed this week, so there is a degree of urgency with this.

Thanks in advance

Sara Nannery
OHS, Risk & infection control Coordinator
Sunbury & Cobaw Community Health

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[cpolson1278@gmail.com]

Hi Sara,

Hope all is well!

The Australasian Healthcare Facility Guidelines mention split systems (link
and excerpt below).

The WHO explicitly notes on their website

that systems that recirculate air (which would include most split systems
and fans) should be avoided due to the risk of spreading droplets/aerosols
during COVID-19. This can be extrapolated to any setting where
droplets/aerosols could be potentially exacerbated by recirculated
air/strong airlows/poor ventilation.

At the university where I work, we’ve been advising folks not to use split
systems wherever possible and we’ve been adjusting HVAC systems to maximise
outdoor air exchanges. Fans are prohibited. If the use of a split system is
unavoidable (i.e. extreme heat would be problematic), we advise that
furniture or patient care areas (in our GP clinics) be rearranged so that
no one is sitting or working directly in the line of the airflow.

AHF Guidelines:
https://aushfg-prod-com-au.s3.amazonaws.com/Part%20D%20Whole_7_2.pdf

SPLIT SYSTEMS:
The use of split system air conditioners is a common way of resolving local
cooling problems in newdevelopments or retrofitted facilities. Their use
should be avoided in patient care areas due to infection prevention issues.
The following need to be considered:routing of condensate drains; air
flow and turbulence effects; andmaintenance and adequacy of filters.The
use of split system air conditioners should be confined to process cooling
for equipment such ascomputer rooms and MRI equipment rooms, staff only and
non-patient care areas.RETICULATED WATER SYSTEMSFor further information
refer to the following documentation:ABCB, 2014, Plumbing Code of
Australia (PCA); and Standards Australia, 2011, AS/NZS 3666.1:2011

Hope this helps

Cheers
Crystal Polson
Infection Control Coordinator
The University of Melbourne
crystal.polson@unimelb.edu.au

On Mon, Jan 18, 2021 at 12:40 PM Sara Nannery wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> Is anyone able to please provide me some clarity regarding reverse cycle
> air conditioners in patient care areas? specifically in outpatient /
> community based clinic rooms.
>
> A number of our community health centre clinical rooms (dental & podiatry)
> are looking at upgrading split system air-conditioning units, however I
> found some information in the Australian Health Facilities Guidelines
> (Physical Environment) advising that spit systems should be avoided in
> patient care areas, I couldn’t find anything in NHMRC guidelines though.
>
> Is anyone able to please provide some clarity on whether they are
> appropriate or not? we have more due to be installed this week, so there is
> a degree of urgency with this.
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> Sara Nannery
> OHS, Risk & infection control Coordinator
> Sunbury & Cobaw Community Health
>
> MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO
> NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.
>
> The use of trade/product/commercial brand names through the list is
> discouraged by ACIPC. If you wish to discuss specific reference to products
> or services by brand or commercial names, please do this outside the list.
>
> Archive of all messages are available at http://aicalist.org.au/archives
> – registration and login required.
>
> Replies to this message will be directed back to the list. To create a new
> message send an email to acipclist@acipc.org.au
>
> To send a message to the list administrator send an email to
> admin@acipc.org.au
>
> You can unsubscribe manually from this list by sending ‘signoff acipclist’
> (without the quotes) to listserv@aicalist.org.au
>

MESSAGES POSTED TO THIS LIST ARE SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE AUTHOR, AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE OPINION OF ACIPC.

The use of trade/product/commercial brand names through the list is discouraged by ACIPC. If you wish to discuss specific reference to products or services by brand or commercial names, please do this outside the list.

Archive of all messages are available at http://aicalist.org.au/archives – registration and login required.

Replies to this message will be directed back to the list. To create a new message send an email to acipclist@acipc.org.au

To send a message to the list administrator send an email to admin@acipc.org.au

You can unsubscribe manually from this list by sending ‘signoff acipclist’ (without the quotes) to listserv@aicalist.org.au

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