{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,11]],"date-time":"2026-08-11T11:39:58Z","timestamp":1786448398684,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":10,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,11]],"date-time":"2026-08-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786406400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":41,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782864000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["associationofanaesthetists-publications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Anaesthesia Reports"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Summary<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Medical air is essential for the safe delivery of anaesthesia, critical care and emergency care. We report a hospital\u2010wide medical air contamination event caused by failure of ageing desiccant dryers. Water was detected in the intensive care unit medical air outlets, before moisture contamination was confirmed within the medical air pipeline system and operating theatre pendants. This resulted in shutdown of the central medical air plant, suspension of non\u2010urgent surgery, surgical bypass and a 5\u2010day disruption to normal hospital services. The principal clinical challenges were the loss of reliable medical air supplied via the pipeline system, potential moisture exposure of anaesthetic ventilators and other equipment, limited capacity to provide ventilatory support and initial inability to use available medical air cylinders with anaesthetic workstations because of pressure regulator incompatibility. Management required immediate cessation of use of the medical air pipeline system, use of alternative medical air supplies, liaison with the anaesthetic machine manufacturer, installation of a temporary dehydrator, moisture removal and compliance testing. This case highlights that visible water at a medical gas outlet is a serious infrastructure failure requiring urgent escalation and multidisciplinary management. The primary educational message is that medical air\u2010drying systems require proactive maintenance, lifecycle replacement and continuous dew\u2010point monitoring linked to hospital alarm systems. Secondary lessons include the importance of tested backup medical air plans, equipment\u2010compatible regulators and staff education to recognise moisture ingress as a high\u2010risk patient safety event.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1002\/anr3.70096","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,11]],"date-time":"2026-08-11T11:25:16Z","timestamp":1786447516000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Moisture ingress in a hospital medical air system secondary to dryer failure leading to service disruption"],"prefix":"10.1002","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"J.","family":"Summers","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anaesthesia Eastern Health  Box Hill VIC Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"S.","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anaesthesia Eastern Health  Box Hill VIC Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"C.","family":"Rachbuch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anaesthesia Eastern Health  Box Hill VIC Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"B.","family":"El\u2010Behesy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anaesthesia Eastern Health  Box Hill VIC Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"A.","family":"Ferlazzo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anaesthesia Eastern Health  Box Hill VIC Australia"},{"name":"Engineering Department Eastern Health  Box Hill VIC Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"R.","family":"Rengasamy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anaesthesia Eastern Health  Box Hill VIC Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8864-4844","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Z. J.","family":"Lim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anaesthesia Eastern Health  Box Hill VIC Australia"},{"name":"Department of Critical Care University of Melbourne  Parkville VIC Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_6_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.atmosenv.2019.117031"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/anr3.12239"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_4_1","unstructured":"DH Estates and Facilities Directorate.Health technical memorandum 02\u201001: medical gas pipeline systems \u2013 part a design installation validation and verification.2006.https:\/\/www.england.nhs.uk\/wp\u2010content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/HTM_02\u201001_Part_A.pdf(accessed 26\/05\/2026)."},{"key":"e_1_2_6_5_1","volume-title":"Medical air","author":"Moss E","year":"1996"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4103\/jcsr.jcsr_58_21"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4103\/0019\u20105049.147178"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4103\/joacp.joacp_175_16"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1046\/j.1365\u20102346.2000.00702.x"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_10_1","volume-title":"Nfpa 99: standard for health care facilities","author":"Association NFP","year":"1996"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_11_1","volume-title":"Medical gas systems \u2013 installation and testing of non\u2010flammable medical gas pipeline systems (as 2896:2021)","author":"Standards Australia","year":"2021"}],"container-title":["Anaesthesia Reports"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/associationofanaesthetists-publications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1002\/anr3.70096","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/associationofanaesthetists-publications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1002\/anr3.70096","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/associationofanaesthetists-publications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1002\/anr3.70096","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,11]],"date-time":"2026-08-11T11:25:18Z","timestamp":1786447518000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/associationofanaesthetists-publications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/anr3.70096"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,7]]},"references-count":10,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,7]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1002\/anr3.70096"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/anr3.70096","archive":["Portico"],"relation":{},"ISSN":["2637-3726","2637-3726"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2637-3726","type":"print"},{"value":"2637-3726","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,7]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2026-07-24","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2026-08-11","order":3,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}],"article-number":"e70096"}}