a. All one-bed rooms designated for TB must meet CDC guidelines for S/KI TB
b. Each one-bed room must have a private bathroom and should have a shower where
possible. Safe shower facilities are to be available, however, if the bedroom for S/KI TB
patients does not offer these facilities
c. Anterooms are not required for the negative pressure rooms designated for
S/KI TB
d. For S/KI TB patients, examination/treatment rooms and any other special treatment
rooms where sputum induction, aerosol treatments and/or cough or aerosol-generating
procedures are performed should meet CDC requirements for infectious TB with the
additional requirement of 12 or greater air changes per hour. Ultraviolet germicidal
irradiation (UVGI) may be used as an enhancement to the recommended engineering
controls.
2. Low Incidence Areas
For those facilities anticipating a low S/KI TB workload, little or no change to existing nursing units may be
required. Existing VA space planning criteria for MS&N nursing units (see Planning Criteria for VA
Facilities, H-08-9 Chapter 100.04) requires two isolation suites per nursing unit. These rooms will be
capable of providing negative or positive pressure and have an anteroom and attached private bathroom.
Minimum air changes are 8 per hour with 100% outside exhaust through a HEPA filter. If these rooms are
not currently provided or if additional rooms are needed for S/KI TB patients then these additional rooms
must meet CDC guidance for S/KI TB and have a private bathroom. An existing 2-bed room which has
appropriate ventilation, airflow and bathroom facilities meeting, at a minimum, current CDC guidance for
S/KI TB, may be scheduled for use by a single TB patient as a low cost alternative to constructing or
renovating an additional 1-bed room.
Sputum induction, aerosol treatments and/or cough or aerosol-generating procedures should be
performed either in TB bedrooms or other rooms that meet CDC guidance for S/KI TB.
D. MH&BS Nursing Units (Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences)
In general, no rooms should be required for S/KI TB patients as they should be transferred to an
appropriate MS&N nursing unit for diagnosis and treatment as needed until they are no longer infectious.
E. Intensive Care Units (ICUs)
1. Existing ICUs should meet current VHA space planning criteria (see Planning Criteria for VA
Facilities, H-08-9 Chapter 102.05) for the number of isolation suites and at a minimum meet CDC
criteria for ventilation for S/K1 TB.
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