An Investigation on the Current Status of Indoor Air Quality Management of Medical Centers in Taiwan

• Main Authors: Ching-Hua Lin, 林靜華
• Other Authors: 胡憲倫
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/y2ve47

碩士 === 國立臺北科技大學 === 環境規劃與管理研究所 === 95 === Due to many equipments, machines, drugs and chemical substances used to provide medical and nursing cares, as well as the presence of patients of complicated backgrounds, the hospitals contain various factors that may place human bodies in a harmful situation. In view of these risks, Consumers’ Foundation had inspected indoor air quality of 25 hospitals in Taipei City in March 2005. The findings indicated the carbon dioxide concentration, the number of suspended particles or bacteria of 10 hospitals exceeded the standard. Meanwhile, Executive Yuan Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) on December 30, 2005 promulgated “Recommended Indoor Air Quality Value”, of which the scope of application encompasses hospitals. As the importance of indoor air quality is becoming more and more appreciated, however, there is only limited domestic research on indoor air quality of the medical centers which highlights the urgency of this issue. Accordingly, this study has two purposes: 1.Through the approach of questionnaire survey, to comprehensively investigate domestic medical centers’ understanding of the significance of indoor air quality management, as well as the corresponding measures they take, in order to identify the degree to which they appreciate the importance of indoor air quality management and the strategies they employ to tackle the problem. It also looks into various factors, as well as the discrepancy between appreciation of the significance of indoor air quality management and the actual implementation. 2. Through the approach of questionnaire survey, to comprehensively examine domestic medical centers’ view of the “Recommended Indoor Air Quality Value” promulgated by EPA in order to understand their perspectives on indoor air quality management strategies, indoor air quality inspection items and schedule, and recommended values for indoor air quality inspection items. It also delves into different factors and their discrepancies in order to provide reference for the government for formulating indoor air quality standard and control measures. From two perspectives, this study conducts questionnaire survey of domestic medical centers: 1.Through three dimensions – “environmental policy and planning,” “operation of the environmental management system” and “inspection and rectification measures” – it explores the understanding and implementation of the medical centers pertinent to indoor air quality management. 2.Through three aspects – “indoor air quality management strategies,” “indoor air quality inspection items and schedule” and “recommended values for indoor air quality inspection items” – it examines the view of the medical centers on this issue. Primary findings of this study are as follows: I. Current indoor air quality management of the medical centers: (1) The degree of understanding of “operation of the environmental management system” is highest (average 5.389); implementation in “inspection and rectification measures” is the best (average 4.226). (2) The degree of understanding of the statement that “the hospital ought to establish environmental protection unit or staff to handle its environmental management” is highest. (3) The degree of understanding of international certification standards such as ISO 14000, ISO 9000 and OHSAS 18000 is the lowest. (4) Implementation pertaining to prevention of Legionella pneumophila is most effective. (5) 88.9% of the medical centers agree with the statement that “for effective indoor air quality management the hospital ought to define the responsibility of its departments or staff.” (6) 72.3% of the medical centers believe they should formulate the “indoor air quality management and maintenance plan” to organize and perfect the indoor air quality management system. (7) Among the indoor air quality inspection items published by EPA, only carbon dioxide (88.8%), temperature (72.2%) and formaldehyde (61.1%) are noted for acceptable implementation. (8) In general, the average score of domestic medical centers’ understanding of the significance of indoor air quality management is 4.953, which is far higher than the average score of their overall implementation (4.084). The fact indicates domestic medical centers’ implementation in indoor air quality management requires improvement. II. The medical centers’ view of the recommended indoor air quality value published by EPA: (1) 77.8% of the medical centers agree that we should “formulate law to regulate indoor air quality management.” (2) Domestic medical centers all agree that recommended values for indoor air quality management should be established and implemented stage by stage. (3) Over 50% of the medical centers indicate that the 24-hour inspection time for suspended particles of diameter that is ≤10μm or ≤2.5μm is too long. (4) 61.1% of the medical centers indicate the recommended value of 600ppm per 8 hours for carbon dioxide is too low. There is a trend toward stricter requirement. Recommendations of this study include: I. Government level: (1) Conduct survey of hospitals on indoor air quality in order to establish appropriate indoor air quality indicators for hospitals. (2) Current recommended values for indoor air quality should be included in the law or in the guidelines for hospital evaluation. (3) Hospital indoor air quality technical manuals or related information websites need to be established. (4) Joint indoor air quality inspection unit needs to be formed to provide assistance for the hospitals. II. Medical centers: (1) Need to establish responsible department or staff and define indoor air quality responsibility of different departments or staffs. (2) Need to plan and conduct indoor air quality inspections in order to control current indoor air quality.