Comfort and health of patients and staff, related to the physical environment of different departments in hospitals: a literature review

Due to the increasing demand for healthcare and the large impact on the finance of hospital buildings in the near future, study is needed on aspects that affect health and comfort of patients and staff in hospitals. Therefore, a literature review was performed on studies related to specific hospital departments and occupant groups, in order to contribute to a better understanding of relations of comfort and health indicators and the physical environment. Differences in comfort and health of occupants were compared between departments, and between occupant groups. It was concluded that staff was generally less satisfied than patients were. Some of the indicators studied (occupant, dose and building-related indicators) varied between departments. Most studies focused on a single dose or building-related indicator, although the occupant-related indicators, such as privacy, infection rate or mortality, were related to more than one dose or building-related indicator. It was concluded that staff in particular have been understudied in relation to the variation of health and comfort aspects in different departments.