A new online course presented by ASHRAE, “Designing and Operating High-Performing Healthcare HVAC Systems,” will be held on April 7, 2020 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. EDT.
This course addresses the role of HVAC systems in helping to reduce hospital associated infections (HAI), explaining airborne vs. contact transmission. Through filtration, air patterns, air changes, dilution, temperature, humidity, UV, and pressurization, the hospital’s HVAC can either help or hinder efforts to reduce HAI. This course describes the why and how of each of these processes from the perspective of particle physics. The instructor, an experienced healthcare engineering professional, provides unabashed analyses of the controversies regarding the science behind the requirements in ASHRAE Std-170, such as how many air changes, what level filtration, etc. The course covers the production and fate of airborne microorganisms and how people can get infected. HVAC design of airborne infectious isolation rooms, protective isolation rooms, operating rooms, emergency departments, sterile processing departments, and infection control risk assessment are all covered, making the course essential training for anyone designing healthcare facilities.
Registration is open here.
Course Instructor
Dan Koenigshofer, PE, HFDP, Member ASHRAE, MSPH, is the vice president for Health Care at Dewberry Engineers Inc. He has over 40 years of engineering and project management experience, specializing in master planning, troubleshooting, and solving engineering problems in healthcare facilities. He is skilled at designing hospital infrastructure focusing on central plants, has worked as a consultant to a general contractor for MEP preconstruction, and has served as an expert witness on legal cases involving hospital-acquired infections. In 2007, Dan became the first ASHRAE/ASHE Certified Healthcare Facility Design Professional (HFDP) in the Southeast United States. One of Dan’s most notable accomplishments was his dual role as the editor-in-chief and principal author of the 2013 ASHRAE book HVAC Design Manual for Hospitals and Clinics.
