| 요약2 |
After the MERS outbreak, the response capabilities of health care facilities have been highlighted, including the lack of negative pressure isolation (NPI) rooms. For this reason, the Korean government is in the process of expanding the number of NPI rooms, and pursuing revisions to the Enforcement Decree of the Medical Service Act that strengthen the criteria for these facilities. Accordingly, this study aims to investigate the medical institutions targeted for the installation of NPI rooms, and to ascertain the current state of NPI rooms and their problems. Among general and tertiary hospitals, there are 159 institutions that are obligated to meet the compulsory criteria for installation of NPI rooms. Of these, we analyzed 9 hospitals in which NPI rooms are being installed, and obtained the following results: first, for existing facilities, 60% of those fall short of the size criterion for NPI rooms of 5 × 3m; second, NPI rooms were often located close to general wards, so in the case of an emergency outbreak such as MERS, lines of motions would need to be controlled with particular caution; and finally, in approximately 10% of cases, although they have grid-connected air conditioning, both supply and exhaust units are not independent. These matters will need to be improved in the future. |