Experimental study on thermal comfort of medical staff in cold region hospitals

The indoor thermal environment is important for the health, comfort, and performance of medical staff. However, most hospital thermal comfort studies focus on patients, while healthcare personnel and their diverse work conditions remain less studied. This study investigated the winter thermal environment in a hospital in Lanzhou, China, using field measurements and 382 valid questionnaires from staff in four departments: outpatient, ultrasound, surgical ward, and medical ward. Environmental parameters, including air temperature, relative humidity, air velocity, globe temperature, CO2 concentration, and sound pressure level, were measured. Thermal comfort was assessed using the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) model and regression analysis. The results show that PMV systematically underestimated staff thermal sensation, indicating limited applicability in this context. Neutral temperatures estimated by the Griffiths method ranged from 22.7 °C to 23.1 °C. The findings suggest that department-specific thermal management may better meet staff thermal requirements in cold-region hospitals.