Thermal Comfort Applied in Hospital Environments: A Literature Review

Abstract

The predicted mean vote (PMV) is the most widely used model around the world to assess thermal comfort in indoor environments. The year 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the PMV model and also the year in which the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. In this context, hospital environments and health professionals are at the center of attention, and a good indoor environment for those professionals to develop their activities is essential. Thus, considering the PMV model and focusing on hospital environments, this study performed a literature review of studies published between 1968 and August 2020. The research identified 153 papers on thermal comfort and its application in hospitals, health centers, and elderly centers. Specific inclusion and exclusion criteria were adopted to determine the most relevant studies for the four research questions proposed in this study. After applying the exclusion criteria, 62 studies were included in order to identify their main characteristics. In the universe of the 62 studies, this review identified 24 studies that applied the PMV model and 12 where there was a comparison of PMV and the thermal sensation votes (TSV) reported by people. The main findings of this research are: (i) A good thermal environment for professionals and patients is important, and more studies are needed; (ii) there are little explored topics, such as productivity related to thermal comfort in hospital environments; (iii) in addition to thermal comfort, other indoor environmental quality (IEQ) parameters have also been evaluated, such as indoor air quality (IAQ); (iv): the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how the quality of indoor spaces is important in order to ensure occupant’s health.

A Review of Thermal Comfort Applied in Bus Cabin Environments

“…Having selected the theme, centered on the aspects related to thermal comfort in bus cabin environments, the efforts turned to define the research intention, guided by the following research questions (RQ). This methodological starting point has already been adopted by a thermal comfort study [23].…”

“…Besides the justifications directed at the importance of thermal analyses in bus cabin environments and the need for indoor air change, this investigation pays tribute to the 50 years of the publication of Fanger's PMV-PPD model of thermal comfort [12]. This model is currently the most employed and widespread worldwide [22,23] in terms of predicting the mean vote response of thermal sensation of a large group of people (PMV) exposed to the same thermal environment [24][25][26], as well as the percentage of people dissatisfied (PPD) with said environment [27]. According to Yao, Li, and Liu [28], the PMV-PPD predictive model was incorporated into ISO standards in the 1980s and is still seen as the basis for the ISO 7730 and ASHRAE 55 standards [25].…”

Ten-Year Evaluation of Thermal Comfort in Operating Rooms

“…The microclimate is a particularly important environmental aspect in the hospital setting, not only for its occupants who-being affected by health problems-are more sensitive than the general population to environmental risk factors but also because-being a workplace-it must guarantee adequate and effective protection of the operators [5][6][7]. Moreover, in the hospital environment, the microclimatic characteristics are especially significant in operating rooms (ORs), where more so than in other hospital environments, it is extremely important, and at the same time extremely difficult, to reconcile the needs of Healthcare 2022, 10, 307 2 of 9 different types of occupants, both relating to the patients' homeothermia and various components for the operating team, whose performances can be significantly affected by any thermal discomfort, with possible negative consequences for the health of patients [8][9][10].…”

Experimental Investigation of Adaptive Thermal Comfort in French Healthcare Buildings

“…Over the years, an extensive amount of research has been carried out on thermal comfort but mainly focused on healthy occupants. However, few studies have explored the thermal sensation of occupants in specific buildings such as medico-social institutions due to the lack of knowledge in this area [5,6]. Thermal by leadership in energy and environmental design (LEED) in healthcare facilities had a good effect on healthcare staff's level of comfort.…”