Reduction of droplet nuclei in 4 bed room

If a patient is diagnosed with an airborne infectious disease, medical workers can use airborne precautions and isolate the patient in a negative pressure room. However, if the patient has not been diagnosed with the airborne disease, then the medical workers cannot use precautions due to the unwieldy nature of the N95 respirator as well as Powered Air Purifying Respirators (PAPR) being expensive. Furthermore, the patient may share a 4-bed room with compromised patients. In this study, we discussed the reduction methods of droplet nuclei concentration to reduce the infection risk in 4-bed rooms. We conducted the experiments in a full-scale test room. Air supply diffusers were on the ceiling, a square cone diffuser was in the center and four linear slot diffusers were on the step side of each bed between a wall and a partition wall. The largest drop in concentrations occurred with smaller air volumes for the square cone diffuser and larger air volumes for the linear slot diffusers. The concentrations were reduced further by using a rolling screen.