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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 Oct 1.
Published in final edited form as: HERD. 2022 Jul 13;15(4):28–40. doi: 10.1177/19375867221111478

Table 2:

Definitions for Built Environment Terms

Concept Definition
Built Environment (BE) Man-made structures, features, and facilities viewed collectively as an environment in which people live and work.
Nursing Home (NH) A residential facility that provides frail elderly and people with chronic illness routine or skilled nursing care.
Long Term Care Facility (LTCF) Facilities that provide a variety of services, both medical and personal care, to people who are unable to live independently. LTCF include nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities, and assisted living facilities.
Cohorting The practice of isolating multiple individuals together as a group. Used as a harm reduction strategy to minimize the risk of disease spread and adverse health outcomes.
Residential Unit (RU) A dwelling space within a Nursing Home. A RU is typically occupied by one to four residents. RUs may be similar to an apartment and have a kitchen, seating area, and/or a dedicated bathroom. They may also be a sleeping space with no additional functionality.
Common Areas (CAs) Areas used for people to congregate for social activities, especially people who live together.
Neighborhood A group of rooms that serve a designated population. The group of rooms may consist of RUs only, or it may include accessory spaces serving that specific area (kitchen, lounge, etc.) Other terms used include “Wings,” “Halls,” “Villages,” and “Pods.”
Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) System The equipment (furnaces, condensing units, etc.), distribution systems (ducts, pipes, etc.), and controls (thermostats, building automation systems, etc.) that create a system that generates and distributes heating, ventilating, and/or air conditioning to a building or portion of a building.
MERV Rating The Minimum Efficiency Reporting Values rating reflects a filter’s ability to capture particles between 0.3 and 10 microns (µm). The higher the MERV rating the better the filter is at trapping smaller particles.
Decontamination Area/ Clean Room An area/room which is constructed/operated in a way that controls the introduction, generation, and retention of contaminants inside the space.
Airborne Infection Isolation Room (AIIR) A single-occupancy residential space/room used to isolate persons with airborne infectious disease. Also referred to as a “negative pressure room.”