Balancing ideal temperatures for aging patients and staff

Healthcare facilities are not known for maintaining a warm temperature. The staff walk miles during their shift, even in the most efficiently designed buildings. This means that healthcare facilities need to strike a healthy balance between not being too hot for the hard-working staff, but also not too cool for the older patients who prefer a warmer setting, according to an article on the Environments for Aging website.

When it comes down to it, compromise is almost always the name of the game with healthcare design. While give-and-take is important in healthcare facility design, the boomer generation has higher expectations for these spaces, the article said.

Radiant panels — which heat a surface, not the air — are one solution. The use of dryer air is proven to allow a warmer temperature in the summer and humidified air allows colder temperatures in the winter. 

Boomer generation patients and their family will also want greater control over the temperature. They are accustomed to controlling their environment in their living room and expect that capability in the patient room, as well. 

According to the article, healthcare facility designers must find ways that enable patients to have more control over their environment. 

"Doing this within the boundaries of compromise for caregivers will position healthcare facilities to successfully maintain patient comfort, while maintaining the higher expectations of boomer nation." 

Read the article.