Rapid review of engineering factors that will influence the spread of COVID-19 in hospital environments

The spread of COVID-19 in hospitals is a complex problem influenced by the virus transmission routes, the hospital environment and how it is used, and how external people and services interact with it. In light of the challenges from COVID-19, Public Health England reviewed the infection protection and control (IPC) guidance to ensure best practice is deployed to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in hospitals and keep people safe.1 The primary strategy for controlling transmission in hospitals is following this guidance on cleaning of surfaces, hand hygiene and use of personal protective equipment (PPE). However, engineering solutions play a role to enhance these measures at multiple points in the system, through environmental decontamination, personal and respiratory protective equipment, hand hygiene and environmental design.
Shining a light on this challenge has already created space for innovation but these solutions should not be developed with engineers alone. Instead it is critical that the engineering and healthcare communities collaborate on this challenge and include human factors expertise,
statisticians and epidemiologists for a holistic approach.
Taking time to understand/identify the lessons learned from this pandemic will be a critical step to inform how future hospitals are designed and built for resilience and how the healthcare system approaches preparedness.
This paper is a rapid review of engineering factors that will influence the spread of COVID-19 in hospital environments. The review is not meant to be comprehensive; it is part of the engineering community’s input to government and is intended to inform further discussion and development of advice. The ideas and suggestions included in this document have been gathered from discussion with stakeholders, including partners to the National Engineering Policy Centre. It is not formal National Engineering Policy Centre guidance