The influence of hospital ward design on resilience to heat waves: An exploration using distributed lag models

Abstract

A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t Highlights  We measure and record internal temperatures in a variety of Hospital ward types  We develop a distributed lag model (DLM) to predict internal temperature  Predictions based on exogenous inputs: external temperature and solar irradiation  DLM shown to be good predictor of internal temperature & determiner of overheating  Wards of heavyweight construction shown to be more resilient to overheating

Health system resilience: a literature review of empirical research

“…However, influences from outside the public health sciences could also be identified in the empirical health system resilience literature. As a relatively distinct influence, the disciplines of engineering and architecture have contributed empirical research assessing the infrastructure and thermal resilience of healthcare facilities and structures ( Lomas et al 2012 ; Iddon et al 2015 ; Short et al 2015 ; Dippenaar and Bezuidenhout 2019 ). A further relatively distinct influence has been the contribution of specific checklists to assess facility and organizational resilience from the fields of disaster management and emergency preparedness ( Paterson et al.…”

“…Resilience in this context is understood as the capability of buildings to withstand extreme conditions such as heat or earthquakes. Iddon et al (2015) , Lomas et al (2012) and Short et al (2015) assessed the thermal resilience for specific building styles of wards in the UK in order to ensure climate change resiliency. None of these studies used specific conceptual frameworks for their analysis.…”

Humidity: A review and primer on atmospheric moisture and human health

“…A topic of interest is whether these outdoor measurements are representative of the true exposure of individuals, particularly given that the susceptible population is often elderly individuals who spend much more time indoors (Hoppe and Martinac, 1998;Loughnan et al, 2015;Quinn et al, 2014). Most of the relevant literature has examined temperature rather than humidity (e.g., Iddon et al, 2015;Lomas and Giridharan, 2012), although a few studies have incorporated a humidity comparison. In an evaluation of 285 low-and middle-income homes in New York City, Quinn et al (2014) found a strong relationship between hourly internal and external dewpoint temperature, with indoor dewpoint increasing by 0.66°C for every 1°C increase in outdoor dewpoint.…”

Hospital wards and modular construction: Summertime overheating and energy efficiency

“…The multi-bed rooms may be warmer than the single bed rooms because they face west which, because of solar gain, makes them more susceptible to overheating than similarly-glazed hospital rooms facing other directions [19]. However, given that MB1 is warmer than MB2, it is more likely that the higher temperatures are because the southern end of the corridor (FE) is particularly warm (Fig.…”

“…The work was part of the EPSRC/ARCC-funded project 'Design and Delivery of Robust Hospital Environments in a Changing Climate' (DeDeRHECC) in which, altogether, 111 spaces in nine hospital buildings across four hospital trust were monitored [18][19][20][21][22][23]. This paper adds to this body of knowledge, by specifically quantifying the energy demands of a well-insulated, thermally lightweight, pre-fabricated, modular healthcare building but also highlighting the serious risk of overheating intrinsic to this form of construction.…”