User-Centred Healing-Oriented Conditions in the Design of Hospital Environments

Mateja Dovjak, Masanori Shukuya and Aleš Krainer
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Mateja Dovjak: Chair of Buildings and Constructional Complexes, Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, University of Ljubljana, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Masanori Shukuya: Department of Restoration Ecology and Built Environment, Tokyo City University, Yokohama 224-8551, Japan
Aleš Krainer: Institute of Public and Environmental Health, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 10, 1-28

Abstract: Design approaches towards energy efficient hospitals often result in a deteriorated indoor environmental quality, adverse health and comfort outcomes, and is a public health concern. This research presents an advanced approach to the design of a hospital environment based on a stimulative paradigm of healing to achieve not only healthy but also comforting conditions. A hospital room for severely burn patient was considered as one of the most demanding spaces. The healing environment was designed as a multi-levelled, dynamic process including the characteristics of users, building and systems. The developed integral user-centred cyber-physical system (UCCPS) was tested in a test room and compared to the conventional system. The thermodynamic responses of burn patients, health care worker and visitor were simulated by using modified human body exergy models. In a healing environment, UCCPS enables optimal thermal balance, individually regulated according to the user specifics. For burn patient it creates optimal healing-oriented conditions with the lowest possible human body exergy consumption (hbExC), lower metabolic thermal exergy, lower sweat exhalation, evaporation, lower radiation and convection. For healthcare workers and visitors, thermally comfortable conditions are attained with minimal hbExC and neutral thermal load on their bodies. The information on this is an aid in integral hospital design, especially for future extensive renovations and environmental health actions.

Keywords: healing conditions; hospital environment; burn patient; thermodynamic response; user-centred cyber-physical system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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