A breath of fresh air for hospitals

Indoor air quality is important for everyone's health but perhaps no more so than in different kinds of medical centre. A team from India has investigated hospital waiting room air quality in terms of patient comfort with respect to ambient temperature.

The team looked at naturally ventilated, passive split ventilated, and active ventilation in hospital buildings for two scenarios in terms of numbers of people in those areas. A comfortable temperature and relative humidity are critical for physiological and psychological wellbeing as is fresh air where expired carbon dioxide levels are not too high.

Their study reveals how better ventilation management can improve well-being for patients, their carers, and healthcare workers. Moreover, active ventilation management is the only optimal choice in such environments.