Air Quality In Two Primary Eye Care Clinics

Air Quality In Two Primary Eye Care Clinics

Alvin Sherman Library 1054

Air quality in health care facilities has become a major priority in recent years, due to the fact that poor air quality can lead to illnesses and prolonged recovery. To test the quality of air, a sample of air is taken and is then analyzed for pollutants and organisms. The quality of air is measured by the number and type of pollutants or organisms in a given volume of air. Thus, an environment with many harmful pollutants or organisms in a small volume of air has poor air quality and could pose a health risk to those in the facility. Commonly measured pollutants are carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. Organisms commonly studied are bacteria and fungi.

In this study, there were two goals: (1) to determine the number and type of microbes in two eye clinics and (2) to compare the air quality in two eye clinics, one built before 1970 and a second built after 1990.

The data suggests that higher levels of microbes were found in the North Miami Beach clinic. The Conference room of this clinic showed to have the highest number of microbes. In the Davie clinic, the examination room contained the greatest number of microbes.