Oops....

I had an experience with a simulation lab for a large teaching medical center out here. The design team was installing positive pressure source equipment that did not meet the NFPA 99, 2005 edition requirements for medical air.

I asked the facility whether the anesthesia machines used in the teaching building in the simulation OR labs would be dedicated to this facility and not be rotated in the hospital for patient use. They went to the facility and found out the intent was to ROTATE the anesthesia machines between the in-patient OR rooms and the teaching lab. Once we told this I had to fight for 4 months to get the design team to understand the project had to pay for a NFPA 99, 2005 edition compliant medical air source equipment. To see this in the code back then would have made this much easier to change. My only concern with the medical vacuum would be if the system is fire safe for waste anesthetic gases and Nitrous Oxide. So, we now need to know if the facility intends to use Nitrous oxide and volatile WAG in the OR simulation lab or if they intend to just fake that portion of the simulation.