Air purifiers in medical environments: what are the benefits?

In China, TEQOYA air purifiers now equip more than 400 rooms in three hospitals: maternity wards were the first to be equipped, followed by cardiology and pneumology departments.

Why is indoor air quality so important in the medical environment? What are the health benefits of ionisers for patients?

Why install air purifiers in maternity units?

As we pointed out in our article https://www.teqoya.com/asthma-babies-and-air-pollution, at birth, children's lungs are not yet mature: They are then made up of "only" 50 million pulmonary alveoli, rising to 300 million by the age of two. Each alveolus then expands until the age of 8 ¹.

Newborn babies are therefore particularly sensitive to the fine particles that penetrate the respiratory tract and reach the alveoli. The poor quality of the air they inhale in their first days can have consequences for their health throughout their whole lives, encouraging the development of allergies and respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic bronchitis.

What are the advantages of an air purifier for cardiology and pneumology departments?

Not only do the finest particles penetrate as far as the lungs, they are also capable of capturing allergens (dust mites, pollens, grasses) and concentrating them. This can exacerbate inflammation of the lungs and the consequences of respiratory illnesses.

The WHO estimates that 36% of lung cancers are linked to pollution, 35% of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 34% of strokes and 27% of heart disease ². The medical use of air purifiers is therefore particularly justified in these departments!

Indoor air quality is not the only benefit of TEQOYA products! While many products used to purify the air work with HEPA filters, our solutions use ozone-free ionisation technology: the negative ions produced charge the polluting particles and eliminate them from the air by electrostatic abatement.

These negative ions, which are found naturally in the purest environments such as mountains and rivers, have other health benefits as well: positive effects on mood and cognitive performance, well-being, improved heart function and quality of sleep, normalisation of blood pressure and lung function... ³

After their surgery, patients in cardiology and pneumology departments often need re-education, which prolongs their stay in hospital. During this period, the medical profession is vigilant about the quality of their indoor environment: the use of an air ioniser, which can achieve concentrations of 6,000 to 8,000 negative ions per cm3, is one of the criteria considered.

What other medical uses for air purifiers?

The specific vulnerability of burn victims

The skin of burn victims can no longer act as a barrier against external aggression, particularly against viruses. There is a major risk of airborne contamination. For these patients, who are very vulnerable and difficult to treat, an infection can be fatal. Furthermore, they usually stay in a medical environment for several months.

In short, the risk of contracting a nosocomial illness is much greater, but above all, the consequences if they do occur can be dramatic: so special attention must be paid to their environment, and in particular to air quality. Avoiding the spread of germs, bacteria and other infectious agents in the air is a key factor in their recovery.

Our experience in China: interview with Frédéric Yeh, founding partner of TEQOYA

Frédéric Yeh has worked with Chinese operators to deploy air purifiers for medical use in maternity wards and the pneumology and cardiology departments of three hospitals.

Interview.

The medical profession is particularly demanding when it comes to indoor air purification solutions. How did you convince them?

Thanks to the efficiency of our products!

We have two different cases: for the maternity units, we simply responded to a call for tenders with a local partner, and carried out the tests requested on viruses and bacteria. Both the head of the medical department concerned and the purchasing manager were convinced by the scientific reports, which demonstrated the effectiveness of our equipment on 97% of viruses and 99% of pollutant particles as a whole.

For the cardiology and pneumology departments, we were approached by a doctor whose asthmatic patient had purchased a TEQOYA. After 12 months, with the air purifier in his room non-stop, the improvement in his health was obvious: he had gone from being hospitalised regularly to being so comfortable that he sometimes forgot his treatment!

What ionisers are installed for this medical use?

In both single and double rooms, we installed TEQOYA T450 units, which are ideal for this purpose because they are totally silent and easy to move around. Initially, hospitals equipped only a few rooms on a fixed basis, but in response to demand, they opted for a fleet of mobile air purifiers, so that they could be installed according to patients' needs. It should be pointed out that this is an additional service offered by hospitals, for which there is a charge. Patients are therefore well aware of the impact of these devices on their health.

The TEQOYA T450 ioniser is effective in rooms up to 50m2, so it can also be used in communal areas such as reading rooms.

For consultation tables, the TEQOYA T200 is perfectly suited to stand on a table. Light, discreet and imperceptible to the ear, it is completely forgettable.

What are the next steps with these hospitals?

They're all very interested in our new TEQOYA S1 air quality sensor and the associated AirObserver app. As my partner explained on our blog, we have integrated the TERA Sensor Next PM into our monitor. In addition to its very high performance, it has the specificity of analysing not only the reference indicator for air quality, PM2.5, i.e. the mass of particles, but also their number. In parallel, we have developed a calculation method based on scientific research, which gives the finest, and therefore most dangerous, particles the same weight as the more voluminous ones. This sensor is highly relevant for assessing the impact of air quality on health, and therefore for hospitals!

Sources

1. 1 - Interview of Dr Suzanne Déoux by Le Figaro in 2014 : https://sante.lefigaro.fr/actualite/2014/05/29/22405-on-hypotheque-lavenir-respiratoire-enfants
2. 2 – Institut Pasteur de Lille https://pasteur-lille.fr/actualites/dossiers/pollution-atmospherique-sante
3. 3 – Find out more about the benefits of negative ions and all the sources in our article All about the benefits of negative ions https://www.teqoya.fr/les-bienfaits-des-ions-negatifs/