Abstract
Throughout a complete year, continued measurements of temperatures and humidities in our hospital wards for patients with internal diseases were done and simultaneously the questionaire to the patients concerning their general thermal sensations, local feelings of warm and cold, humidity sensations, feeling of air circulation, feeleing of radiation heat, general thermal comfort, their clothing and bedding conditions was issued and their answers, were collected. Their charts were also investigated simultaneously, and the summarized results were as follows.
1. The optimal temperature in the wards in autumn was 22-23°C: in winter, 20-21°C: in spring, 21-22°C: and in summer, 24-25°C.
2. Young people reacted more sensitively to the room temperatures, that is, They feel cooler than others in cool rooms and warmer in warm rooms.
3. The diseases were classified into 5 groups by the tendency of feeling temperatures; namely, Type 1: always feeling it warmer than it really was ; Type 2 : feeling warmer when it was warm and colder when it was cold ; Type 3 : feeling cooler when it was warm and warmer when it was cool ; Type 4 : feeling cooler always than it really was and Type 5 : showing no particular inclination. It was desired that optimal thermal conditions would established according to type of diseases
4. “Too cool environment” is apt to be created by summertime cooling and “too warm environment” by wintertime heating is often created. The complaints of localized warm or cold feelings were most widely ranged in autumn, which suggested that timing for start of cooling or warming, periods for that practice and methods, etc. should be more carefully considered.
5. With regards to the feeling of temperature vs. humidity, “too dry” sensation in wintertime was pointed out. The difference in feeling of humidity depending on season was observed to be in the range of 20-39% relative humidity.
6. The patients adjusted their body temperatures by changes in clothings and beddings individually in order to meet the changes of thermal conditions in the wards, and within that range, the hospitals at present having air-conditioning facilites are in satisfactory conditions with regards to the thermal environment creation.
7. However, problems still remain to be solved in the future for patients with severe conditions or for infants who are unable to adjust their body temperatures by themselves.
