Abstract
Comfort and health of outpatient staff is important due to the growing demand of healthcare and its crucial influence on society. Previous studies have mostly focused on the perception of comfort and indicated a large prevalence of building-related symptoms and dissatisfaction with comfort of staff in hospital buildings. Unfortunately, limited information was available of the individual preferences in relation to building aspects, especially in outpatient areas. This study aims to understand the preferences of outpatient staff in relation to their comfort, health, work- and building-related aspects. Data were collected with a survey from 556 outpatient workers in six hospital buildings and building inspection of 107 rooms. TwoStep cluster analysis was performed to identify groups with clear differences in preferences and comfort, that justify the variation of individual comfort and preferences of outpatient workers. Six clusters were produced for preferences and comfort with IEQ; three clusters were produced for preferences and comfort with social aspects. The clusters indicated that preferences and comfort of IEQ are related to health. The social clusters varied in activities of outpatient staff. As the overlap of the profiles of the IEQ clusters with the profiles of the social clusters was limited, the results suggest that it is important to study both simultaneously. Surprisingly, relations with building-related aspects were for both cluster-sets limited. This suggests that outpatient staff members do not relate their preferences to the actual building where they are working.
Highlights
Previous studies show that the demand on hospital staff is increasing [1,2,3,4] and that their comfort and health may be affected negatively by dose- and building-related aspects [5,6,7]
Relations with building-related aspects were for both cluster-sets limited. This suggests that outpatient staff members do not relate their preferences to the actual building where they are working
The clusters indicate that preferences and comfort of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) are related to health
Summary
Previous studies show that the demand on hospital staff is increasing [1,2,3,4] and that their comfort and health may be affected negatively by dose- and building-related aspects [5,6,7]. Perceived comfort and needs related to the layout and the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) may vary between hospital departments. This is because hospitals are com plex buildings, with e.g. inpatient areas, outpatient areas, operating rooms and intensive care units. To better understand comfort and health of staff members in outpatient areas, a survey was performed in which personal aspects, work-related aspects, and social comfort (privacy, crowding and inter action) were assessed.
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