BACKGROUND: Studies concerning indoor thermal conditions are very
important in defining the satisfactory comfort range in health care
facilities.
OBJECTIVE: This study focuses on the evaluation of the thermal
comfort sensation felt by surgeons and nurses, in an orthopaedic surgical
room of a Portuguese hospital.
METHODS: Two cases are assessed, with and without the presence of a
person. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) tools were applied for evaluating
the predicted mean vote (PMV) index locally.
RESULTS: Using average ventilation values to calculate the PMV
index does not provide a correct and enough descriptive evaluation of the
surgical room thermal environment. As studied for both cases, surgeons feel
the environment slightly hotter than nurses. The nurses feel a slightly cold
sensation under the air supply diffuser and their neutral comfort zone is
located in the air stagnation zones close to the walls, while the surgeons
feel the opposite. It was observed that the presence of a person in the room
leads to an increase of the PMV index for surgeons and nurses. That goes in
line with the empirical knowledge that more persons in a room lead to an
increased heat sensation.
CONCLUSIONS: The clothing used by both classes, as well as the
ventilation conditions, should be revised accordingly to the amount of
persons in the room and the type of activity performed.
