What Does it Mean to Have Poor Indoor Air Quality in Your Long Term Care Facility?

78% of Senior Living Administrators believe their indoor air quality is good or excellent but 81% of LTC facilities suffer from poor ventilation⁴. 

Air quality is typically considered poor when there are elevated levels of contaminants in the air. Some common sources of contaminants in Senior Living buildings can include:

• Airborne infectious disease particles such as SARS-CoV-2 and the flu
• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which can be found in both personal products such as nail polish and hairspray and building materials such as cleaning products and paint
• Particulate matter from cooking and vacuuming 
• Carbon dioxide from exhalation
• Smoke resulting from environmental events like wildfires
• Odors 

While most air pollution is invisible, that does not mean it is not there. These and other contaminants are in the air your staff and residents breath every day. It is important to address them and remove or reduce them so that your staff and residents can experience a healthier environment.

How Poor IAQ Impacts Your Long Term Care Staff

There are multiple ways poor IAQ can impact the health, wellness, and performance of your Senior Living staff. Some of these include:

• Spread of airborne infectious disease can make caring for LTC residents one of the most deadly jobs in the country⁵
• Chronic headaches and gastrointestinal distress associated with exposure to odors in poorly ventilated facilities⁶
• Decrease in job satisfaction and increase in stress when exposed to foul odors and other environmental pollutants for long periods of time with no power to change their environment⁷
• Decrease in productivity due to long-term exposure to a poorly ventilated work environment⁸
• Short term effects such as dry, itchy eyes and throat as well as increased risk of developing serious health issues such as respiratory illness, heart disease, and cancer⁹

Your staff members work long, hard hours inside your facility. When those hours are spent breathing air with increased levels of harmful chemicals and particulate matter, the health and performance outcomes are likely to be worse than if your air was cleaner.

What Outcomes Can Better IAQ Produce for Your Long Term Care Staff?

If your facility suffers from poor IAQ, improvements are likely to reduce or remove the negative health and wellness symptoms your staff may face. Moreover, communicating your IAQ improvement efforts demonstrates your commitment to their wellbeing at work – something increasingly important to staff¹⁰. 

When you both invest in air quality products and keep your staff informed of the quality of the air they breathe, it is possible that you will see a boost in your staff retention rates. You may also see new prospective staff members excited to work with you, as they will know that their health and wellbeing matters to you.

In addition, improved health and wellness as a result of cleaner indoor air can lead to better decision making, less workplace stress, and less absenteeism^{11, 12}. That’s a win for your staff, your residents, and your business.

^{1​​ https://skillednursingnews.com/2021/03/nursing-homes-have-94-staff-turnover-rate-with-even-higher-churn-at-low-rated-facilities/} 

^{2 https://finance-yahoo-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/finance.yahoo.com/amphtml/news/honeywell-survey-reveals-72-office-125900755.html&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1647063365285498&usg=AOvVaw0oS6iL_7JNRj_UmZRPf65k}

^{3 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11089326/&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1647063365285762&usg=AOvVaw1bYAqdTVrOoXmtmLutaouf} 

^{4 National Library of Medicine. “81% of Senior Living Buildings have insufficient HVAC systems”, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33401060.}

^{5 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nursing-home-workers-had-one-of-the-deadliest-jobs-of-2020/&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1647063365274933&usg=AOvVaw33wOE151a8HSIRbSyeWXjZ ​​}

^{6 Prior D, Mitchell A, Nebauer M, Smith M. Oncology nurses’ experience of dimethyl sulfoxide odor. Cancer Nurs. 2000 Apr;23(2):134-40. doi: 10.1097/00002820-200004000-00010. PMID: 10763285 ​​}

^{7 Applebaum, D., Fowler, S., Fiedler, N., Osinubi, O., & Robson, M. (2010). The impact of environmental factors on nursing stress, job satisfaction, and turnover intention. The Journal of nursing administration, 40(7-8), 323–328. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0b013e3181e9393b​​}

^{8 Wyon DP. The effects of indoor air quality on performance and productivity. Indoor Air. 2004;14 Suppl 7:92-101. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0668.2004.00278.x. PMID: 15330777.​​}

^{9 https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.epa.gov/indoor-air-quality-iaq/introduction-indoor-air-quality%23longterm&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1647063365281844&usg=AOvVaw2yL6FI-j7tj7aE74X30w70 ​​}

^{10 https://finance-yahoo-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/finance.yahoo.com/amphtml/news/honeywell-survey-reveals-72-office-125900755.html&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1647063365275526&usg=AOvVaw3jjrhHbE0y1WIG6YNyA00b​​}

^{11 https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/absenteeism.asp&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1647063365280407&usg=AOvVaw0xjvTZprs2Mh8FYfX8HjMw ​​}

^{12 Wyon DP. The effects of indoor air quality on performance and productivity. Indoor Air. 2004;14 Suppl 7:92-101. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0668.2004.00278.x. PMID: 15330777.​​}