Glossary
Healthcare construction, in plain English
The standards, authorities and clinical-construction terms used across this website, explained in a sentence or two.
Definitions
About this glossary
This glossary defines the terms KRM Global uses when it plans, builds and hands over clinical facilities in the UAE, from regulators such as the DoH and DHA to technical terms such as ICRA, HEPA, ISO 14644, laminar flow and pressure cascade.
- Terms defined
- 34 terms
- Covers
- Regulators, standards and clinical-construction terms
- Written for
- Clients, consultants and facility managers
- Maintained by
- KRM Global Contracting & Maintenance
Glossary terms A to Z
A
- AMCAnnual maintenance contract
- An agreement under which a contractor carries out planned preventive maintenance and reactive call-outs on a facility for a year at a time. KRM maintains the facilities it builds, including Retaj Medical Center, under AMCs.
- ASHRAE 170ASHRAE Standard 170, Ventilation of Health Care Facilities
- A US standard for ventilation in hospitals and other health care facilities. It sets design values such as air changes, pressure relationships and filtration for spaces like operating rooms, and is used with HTM 03-01 as a design reference for clinical HVAC.
B
- Biomedical engineerBiomedical engineer
- An engineer who links medical equipment and the building works. On KRM healthcare projects the biomedical engineer reads the equipment supplier's site requirements and coordinates pendants, robots, dialysis plants and imaging equipment with the construction team.
- BMSBuilding management system
- A control system that monitors and operates building services such as air-handling units and raises alarms when a value, such as room pressure, goes out of range.
C
- CSSDCentral sterile services department
- The hospital department where reusable surgical instruments are cleaned, sterilised and stored before they return to theatres and wards.
D
- DHADubai Health Authority
- The regulator of health facilities in the Emirate of Dubai. Clinical fit-out drawings for Dubai facilities are submitted to the DHA.
- DMT / ADMDepartment of Municipalities and Transport / Abu Dhabi Municipality
- The Abu Dhabi authorities whose permits are required for building and fit-out works. KRM's design team obtains these permits alongside Civil Defence approval.
- DoHDepartment of Health – Abu Dhabi
- The regulator of health facilities in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. It licenses hospitals and clinics, and fit-out drawings for licensed facilities are reviewed against its health-facility guidelines.
E
- EHSEmirates Health Services
- The federal health services provider operating public hospitals and clinics in the northern emirates of the UAE.
- ELVExtra-low-voltage systems
- Low-voltage building systems such as fire alarm, nurse call, access control, CCTV, data and building management.
F
- FLSFire and life safety
- The systems and measures that detect, control and escape from fire: alarm, emergency lighting, fire-fighting, passive protection, fire doors and dampers. In Abu Dhabi they are inspected by Civil Defence.
H
- HEPAHigh-efficiency particulate air filter
- A filter that, in its standard US rating, captures at least 99.97% of particles of 0.3 micrometres. HEPA terminal filters supply clean air to operating theatres and clean rooms and are integrity-tested at handover and after filter changes.
- HTM 03-01Health Technical Memorandum 03-01
- NHS England guidance on specialised ventilation for healthcare buildings. It is widely used as a design reference for operating theatres and other critical spaces.
I
- ICRAInfection control risk assessment
- A documented assessment, agreed with the hospital, of how construction could affect patients. It sets the level of containment, such as dust-tight hoarding, negative air and sealed material routes, used while building inside a live facility.
- ILSMInterim life-safety measures
- Temporary fire and life-safety precautions applied when normal protection is disturbed during construction in an occupied building.
- IPSIsolated power supply
- An isolated electrical system for operating theatres and other critical areas, with an insulation monitor, so that a first fault does not interrupt the supply to life-support equipment.
- ISO 14001ISO 14001:2015 Environmental management systems
- The international standard for environmental management systems. KRM is certified (certificate 26RN07GR).
- ISO 14644ISO 14644 cleanrooms and controlled environments
- The international standard series for cleanrooms. ISO 14644-1 classifies air cleanliness by particle concentration, from ISO Class 1 to 9. ISO Class 5 corresponds to the older Class 100 and ISO Class 8 to Class 100,000. See ISO 14644 clean room classes explained.
- ISO 45001ISO 45001:2018 Occupational health and safety management systems
- The international standard for occupational health and safety management systems. KRM is certified (certificate 26RN07GS).
- ISO 9001ISO 9001:2015 Quality management systems
- The international standard for quality management systems. KRM is certified (certificate 26RN07GQ).
- ITP / NCRInspection and test plan / Non-conformance report
- Quality-control records: the ITP lists the inspections and tests a work item must pass, and an NCR records work that did not meet the requirement and the corrective action taken.
L
- Laminar flowLaminar-flow ceiling
- A ceiling that delivers filtered air downwards in a smooth, unidirectional stream over the operating table, carrying particles away from the surgical site.
M
- MOHAPMinistry of Health and Prevention
- The UAE federal health ministry. Its facility requirements apply to health facilities in the northern emirates.
N
- Negative pressureNegative pressure
- A room held at a lower pressure than its surroundings so that air flows in, not out. It is used for containment hoarding, isolation rooms and hazardous-drug rooms.
O
- OPDOutpatient department
- The part of a hospital where patients are seen without being admitted.
P
- Pass boxPass box
- A sealed hatch with interlocked doors for passing materials between clean and less clean areas without opening both sides at once.
- PCRAPre-construction risk assessment
- A risk assessment completed before work starts in a hospital, covering the hazards the works create for patients, staff and visitors.
- PICUPaediatric intensive care unit
- A hospital unit for critically ill children.
- Positive pressurePositive pressure
- A room held at a higher pressure than its surroundings so that air flows out. Operating theatres and clean rooms use it so that unfiltered air does not leak in.
- Pressure cascadePressure cascade
- A planned sequence of pressure differences between adjoining rooms so that air always flows from the cleanest space towards the less clean one.
R
- ROReverse osmosis
- A membrane water-treatment process. A dialysis unit's RO plant room and loop piping supply purified water to every dialysis station.
U
- UPSUninterruptible power supply
- Battery-backed power that keeps critical equipment running through a mains failure until emergency power takes over.
- USP <797> / <800>United States Pharmacopeia chapters 797 and 800
- USP <797> covers compounding of sterile preparations and <800> covers handling of hazardous drugs. Pharmacy clean rooms are built to them, including negative-pressure rooms for hazardous drugs.
V
- VFDVariable-frequency drive
- A motor controller that varies fan speed, used on clean-room air-handling units to hold airflow and pressure.
Definitions are general explanations for readers new to clinical construction. The governing standard, authority guideline or project specification always takes precedence.
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