Thermal environment in Swedish hospitals: Summer and winter measurements

Two distinct groups of individuals (staff and patients) occupy hospital environments. The physical, social and individual needs of the patients as well as of the nursing staff vary to a large extent. Consequently, it is important to provide for a comfortable indoor environment for both groups of individuals. The variations between the groups make it hard to optimize the indoor environment for all individuals. Objective measurements and distribution of questionnaires were administrated in an orthopaedic ward. Questionnaires were distributed in order to learn more about how the indoor environment is perceived. To assess the response to the questionnaires, physical indoor climate variables were measured simultaneously. A combination of objective measurements and questionnaires is a suitable method to assess and analyse the indoor environment in hospital buildings. The data was collected during summer and winter to in order to identify possible seasonal variations. Comparisons show that the difference between staff and patients perception of the indoor air temperature differ more during winter than summer despite that physical measurements showed that the temperatures were similar in both seasons.