Thermal comfort in a hospital isolation room – A laboratory study

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine thermal comfort, perception of air movement, and perceived symptoms of persons lying in patient bed in a hospital isolation room. The study had a repeated measures design with two test conditions: 1) baseline overhead mixing ventilation and 2) local downward ventilation over the patient bed with background mixing ventilation. Ten volunteers participated. The room air temperature was 23.1 °C and supply airflow rate was 9 l/s,m2 in both conditions. Thermal comfort, perception of air movement and perceived symptoms were assessed. The mean thermal sensation vote in both test conditions was “Neutral” and there were no significant differences in thermal comfort, perception of pleasantness of air movement or perceived symptoms between test conditions. The results of this study can be utilized in the development of thermally comfortable solutions that reduces the health care workers exposure to patient exhaled