The HEPACART Blog

Risks of Rushing Turnover: Air Exchange Rate per Hour Gets Missed

HEPACART — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 14:00:00 GMT

The air exchange rate per hour only covers the next case if the room moved that air. A fast turnover can still look ready. The wipe-down is done, the next case cart is in the hall, and the board already has this operating room next. Finishing the wipes faster doesn't tell you the air exchange is done.

The 5 Most Common Containment Failures on Healthcare Job Sites

HEPACART — Tue, 27 Oct 2026 13:00:00 GMT

Nobody plans to put up the wrong infection control risk assessment (ICRA) barrier. On an active hospital floor, a containment setup can look complete from the corridor long before the work inside it is actually under control. From the corridor, the barrier is up, a machine is running, and someone is already cutting. Patients are in the rooms next door, and the crew has a window to get the work done before the next shift change or the next trade is waiting in the hall.

How to Set Up an ICRA Cart Faster Without Cutting Corners

HEPACART — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 14:00:01 GMT

"We don't have time for setup" is one of the most honest sentences in healthcare construction. It's also one of the most dangerous, depending on what happens next.

Air Scrubber vs. HEPA Filtration: What Belongs in Your OR Environment?

HEPACART — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 14:00:02 GMT

A question that comes up more often than most ASC administrators expect: if the operating room already has HEPA filtration built into the air handling system, why would anyone bring in a portable air scrubber at all? And on the flip side, if a scrubber is sitting in the hallway running, does that mean the room's air is being handled correctly?

Negative Air Machines vs. Air Scrubbers: Differences for Healthcare

HEPACART — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 14:00:01 GMT

Somewhere in nearly every healthcare construction submittal package, someone writes "negative air machine" when they mean an air scrubber, or specs an air scrubber for a job that actually requires exhausted negative pressure. The two pieces of equipment get quoted from the same catalog, stored on the same truck, and set up by the same crews, so it's an easy mix-up to make. It's also one that a surveyor, an infection preventionist, or a project owner reviewing the ICRA documentation after the fact will not treat as a technicality.

How HEPA Filtration Supports Consistent Infection Control Outcomes

HEPACART — Mon, 28 Sep 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Ask most facilities teams what makes filtration effective, and the answer usually starts and ends with a number: 99.97 percent. That figure is real, and it matters, but it answers a narrower question than most people think it does. It tells you what a HEPA filter is capable of under ideal, tested conditions. It doesn't tell you whether that performance shows up consistently, on job twelve, run by a crew that didn't set up the equipment on job one.

What Happens Between Cases: Breaking Down Air Exchange in the OR

HEPACART — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 14:00:01 GMT

Ask most facility teams how long air exchange in the operating room takes between cases, and you'll get a number that sounds official but rarely holds up under scrutiny. Fourteen minutes. Twenty. Sometimes "however long housekeeping needs." The truth is that air exchange isn't one event. It's a sequence of overlapping tasks, and most of the time either gained or lost between cases happens inside that sequence, not around it.

Step-by-Step: Set Up Proper Containment Systems in Active Facilities

HEPACART — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 14:00:00 GMT

A containment cart set up correctly in ten minutes and one set up carelessly in ten minutes look identical from across the hallway. Both are unfolded. Both have a HEPA unit running. Both look, to anyone walking by, like the job is under control.

Why 'We’ve Always Done It This Way' Fails Under Audit Pressure

HEPACART — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Every facility has at least one process that nobody can fully explain, except to say it's how things have always been done. The barrier gets set up a certain way because that's how the last three crews did it. The negative air machine gets placed in the same corner every time because that's where it goes. The documentation gets filled out after the fact because that's always been fast enough.

6 Signs Your Infection Control Process Wouldn't Hold Up in an Audit

HEPACART — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 14:00:00 GMT

Every infection prevention leader has a version of this moment: a surveyor asks a question that sounds simple, and the honest answer isn't as clean as it should be. "Can you show me the pressure log from the job on 4 West last month?" "Who verified this containment barrier before demolition started?" "Does every contractor get the same infection control briefing, or does that depend on who's running the crew that week?"