THE DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND SYSTEMS ENGINEERING
AND
ADVISOR TAKERU IGUSA, PROFESSOR
ANNOUNCE THE THESIS DEFENSE OF
Doctoral Candidate
Marietta Squire
Monday, July 27, 2020
11 AM
Contact Elena Shichkova for access to this presentation.
“Mathematical Modeling and the Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infections”
Hospital construction, renewal, and sustainment involve complex processes as a result of rapid change in healthcare technology and information systems technology, changing practices of care, and the ongoing presence of varied bacterial and viral threats. Quality of care is in many ways predicated upon the quality and safety of the environment upon which the patient receives care. Hospitals operate twenty-four hours a day at staff levels that are often not adequate for the number of patients being seen. This further emphasizes the importance of ensuring that a hospital is designed and operated in the safest manner possible, for both patients and staff.
This thesis develops novel methods and toolsets that can be implemented during the hospital design phase as well as during hospital operations, to help ensure patient and staff safety are paramount. These methods quantify the clinical impacts of infection control as well as associated costs and savings, prior to intervention implementation. The Hospital Energy model addresses the management and sustainment of critical care when operating within a distressed power grid environment. These quantitative tools provide an objective assessment of how to best allocate resources and energy within fiscal constraints. Both the Infection De-escalation model and Hospital Energy model are then adapted and expanded to address SARS-CoV-2 transmission in hospitals. The excess energy and economic cost of implementing both ultraviolet light decontamination and negative pressure treatment rooms in hospitals are evaluated through the integration of these two models.