Hospital Isolation Room

Isolation Room at the Queensway Carleton Hospital

Self-isolation room sealed for the health and safety of the patient

Hospital Isolation Room

Why This Job Was Important

With COVID-19, flu, and other infections that are transported through air, the need to treat patients in an airtight, properly ventilated, the room is a key tool in controlling the spread of these infections.
The second floor of the hospital was being renovated and a room had been identified to be an isolation room. That room had been specified to have a specific level of air tightness that was beyond what was achievable with the materials and construction techniques being used.
The isolation room was comprised of 2 rooms; the patient care area (bed and washroom facilities) and an anteroom where staff could enter from the hallway and be able to view the patient without actually entering the room.
We needed to seal the isolation room without disrupting the activities at the hospital. The first and third floors of the hospital were in full operation caring for patients and the second floor was occupied by construction personnel doing the renovation.

In addition to isolation rooms, there are many other applications where it may be advantageous to have a specific room in a building made airtight. For example: operating rooms, electronics “clean rooms”, biological research, manufacturing rooms producing odours, paint rooms, and rooms for people with chemical sensitivities.

Results

The concrete floor and concrete sealing made for good air barriers between the patient areas above and below the room to be sealed. The room was a corner room which means that 2 sides were exterior walls, so there were 2 walls to be concerned about where leakage of AeroBarrier material to the second floor was of concern.

After prep of the room and the initial air test, the seal was started. Rather than push the pressure in the room to 100 Pa as is normally done, we started the seal at a much lower pressure to allow the AeroBarrier sealant to seal the holes without forcing the material though the holes. Spotters were used on the 1st and 3rd floors to ensure that no sealant was leaking into the patient rooms on those floors and our technicians were keeping a close eye on the 2nd floor area to ensure that there was no sealant escaping.

As the seal progressed the pressure was increased as the room tightened. Although the seal was slower than normal, we demonstrated that it is possible to seal a room in a fully functioning hospital without disrupting the important work going on there. The charts below show the two rooms that needed sealing, the main patient room and the anteroom.

Hospital Isolation Room

Isolation Room at the Queensway Carleton Hospital