Automated Hygienic Doors for Infection Control

The key benefits of automated hygienic doors    

Hygienic door systems with intelligent automations are the best solution to help patients and staff move within healthcare facilities in a safe, efficient and convenient manner. Automatic hygienic doors have become increasingly popular for busy hospitals due to the numerous advantages they offer.

Below we explore some of the reason why these doors are increasingly being chosen –

Contamination Controlautomatic doors, sectional doors

One of the main ways infection and viruses are spread is through hand contact. Particularly on the most frequently used building components such as doors. Automated hygienic doors are ideal for infection control areas such as hospitals, due to the fact they eliminate the need to touch the door surface, therefore reducing the risk of contamination. Automations also offer greater convenience for staff who need to move equipment and patient beds around within the hospital, without the need to open or touch doors. They are particularly useful for use in hygiene critical areas such as operating theatres, intensive care units and isolation units. Hygienic doors are constructed from Glass Reinforced Polyester, using a unique pressure moulding technique. This produces a completely smooth, void free finish to the door which prevents bacteria from harbouring and makes them easy to clean.

automatic doors, industrial sectional doors

Functionality

When you choose automatic doors, you don’t have to sacrifice form for function. With so many different configurations, designs and activation options to choose from, it’s easy to find a solution to suit your needs. There are three basic types of automatic doors -swinging, sliding and bi-parting sliding. Swing doors are perfect for high traffic corridors or rooms, sliding doors are perfect where space is limited and bi-parting sliding doors are frequently used in areas requiring maximum opening spaces to accommodate the free movement of medical equipment and patient beds.

DDA and Equality Act complianceautomatic doors, high speed doors

Automatic doors improve access for everyone, regardless of their physical capabilities. The introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 and the subsequent Equality Act 2010, along with BS 8300 and Approved Document M of the Building Regulations, has made it necessary for companies to install automatic doors in order to ensure compliance.

Building occupants prefer automatic doors

Survey results prove that an overwhelming majority of building users prefer and place a high level of importance on automatic doors. A recent research study by the AAADM (American Association of Automatic Door Manufacturers) showed that 98.9 percent preferred using automatic doors. Research participants also indicated that it was most important for automatic doors to be used in hospitals. Automatic doors provide a quieter environment and enhanced privacy for patients. Staff and visitors in corridors are undetectable to the patients in enclosed rooms and doctor-patient conversations cannot be overheard in the corridors.

Safety and convenience

When properly installed, serviced and maintained, automatic doors consistently provide safe, reliable and convenient access for users. An automated door removes the inconvenience of struggling to open a heavy, manual door. Doors which are fire rated or lead lined can be particularly difficult to open due to their weight. For controlled environments, particularly where rooms are operating under air pressure, using automations is another solution for smooth effortless operation.

Easy to use and maintainautomatic doors, sectional doors

Today’s technologically sophisticated automatic doors are user-friendly and virtually self-sufficient. When an automatic door is installed and maintained properly, day-to-day operation is straightforward and typically trouble-free. Automated doors also sustain less damage and wear from trolleys and other aggressive traffic, which in turn increases the life of the doorset and reduces maintenance costs.

Energy savings

Sustainability is a major concern in modern construction and automated doors help save energy by ensuring doors are shut efficiently, safely and securely. Automatic doors only open and close when a user activates them, this prevents doors from being left open which results in wasted heating or air conditioning costs. Plus, many new, low energy door options use minimal power to operate and establish a tight, secure seal to conserve energy. Due to this, automatic doors are ideal for temperature controlled environments such as operating theatres.automatic doors, high speed doors

Cost and long term value

Automated doors will sustain far less damage and wear from trolleys and other aggressive traffic due to the limited amount of contact with the door leaf. This increases the life of the door set and reduces maintenance costs. Automatic doors offer significant cost and energy savings over their life cycle. Automatic doors which are correctly installed, maintained and serviced will run smoothly for many years and virtually pay for themselves in terms of convenience and energy savings. Automated doors are a cost effective solution for providing universal accessibility across buildings.

 

Why Choose Dortek Hygienic Automated Doors?industrial sectional doors

With over 50 years’ experience in the design, manufacture, installation and maintenance of hygienic automatic doors, our clients benefit from our extensive product knowledge and project management experience.

We work with clients to automate their doors to offer reliable, hands free access that improves pedestrian flow and reduces energy costs. All Dortek automations are fully guaranteed and are installed by our own certified engineers without the use of sub-contractors. To ensure your automations remain in peak operating condition throughout their life, service & maintenance contracts are also available. Dortek are approved members of ADSA (Automatic Door Suppliers Association).

Please contact us for advice, free quotations or general enquiries relating to any project requirements you may have.

5 Future Trends Predicted to Change Healthcare Design

The current pandemic has led us to rethink about the design of our healthcare spaces in the future. We’re currently seeing five key trends which we expect will shape the future design of hospitals and healthcare facilities.

1. Infection control. Infection control has always been a key priority in the design of healthcare facilities but it will become more important in the coming years. Hospitals across the globe realise now more than ever how crucial it is to specify germ-resistant and easy to clean materials to help stop the spread of infections. Touchless and automated technology will also become increasingly popular.

‘Easy-to-sanitize or naturally germ-resistant materials and finishes make it easier to maintain the high level of cleanliness necessary in a hospital environment. Any material or finish used in a hospital setting should be nonporous and nonreactive when exposed to common disinfectants such as bleach, alcohol, and ammonium compounds. Reducing the number of horizontal surfaces such as ledges can help reduce the spread of infection. Doors and curtains that open automatically and sinks with motion sensors also remove some common avenues of transmission.’ HMC ARCHITECTS.

2. Air Management. The shortage of negative pressure rooms available to deal with the pandemic is another issue which needs to be addressed. Natural ventilation and high-level filtration systems should be designed to keep fresh air coming in while preventing airborne germs from being recirculated throughout the facility. Although isolation rooms are on a separate negative exhaust system, consideration should be given to further isolate ICUs and Nursing Units on their own systems. Increasing the number of isolation rooms per unit can help control containment on a unit.

3. Flexible Design. During outbreaks that flood hospitals with an increase in demand all at once, it’s crucial for to be able to quickly adapt the facility’s spaces to accommodate an influx of patients. It’s important to design spaces with the ability to be able to convert to another function. Flexibility will become a key focus as hospitals explore strategies and design options to be able to easily convert spaces into much needed temporary surgical sites, isolation rooms and ICU’s.

4. Increased tertiary and quaternary care. As primary and secondary healthcare expands into more outpatient or alternative care settings, hospitals will become ever more focused on chronic care, treating sicker patients during prolonged stays. For designers, the challenge will be how to make these stays as comfortable as possible for patients and their families while providing clinicians with cutting-edge, responsive environments to care for the most vulnerable.

5. More accommodating and inclusive spaces. As care options increase, both patients and providers are expecting more welcoming healthcare environments. These spaces must address patient needs, including mental and behavioural health, across a care continuum of multiple healthcare settings from hospital to home. For medical providers, the healthcare environment of tomorrow needs to provide adequate collaboration space for team-based care as well as individual work areas that accommodate the expanding roles of telemedicine and technology.

  Dortek hospital doors in Heartlands Hospital hybrid theatre.

With over 50 years’ experience in the healthcare industry, Dortek have a deep understanding of hospital door design for infection control, air management and touchless automation. Our access solutions have been carefully designed to meet needs for hygiene, flexibility and functionality.

Dortek hygienic doors have a smooth and seamless construction with no ledges, recesses or right angles where dust or bacteria can be trapped and grow. Our doors are free of timber and other organic materials that promote bacterial growth. This makes them ideally suited to hospital areas requiring maximum hygiene and cleanability. Our door systems play an essential role in preventing cross-contamination as well as providing fire and x-ray protection, maintaining correct room pressures and ensuring flexible and optimum operating efficiency.

For more information on how our door systems can help to improve hospital design and aid better infection control and flexibility, please contact us.

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