近十年內，住院成長率超過五成，故舒適性的病房環境對住院病患日益重要。若病患處於舒適的熱環境中，對病情的恢復有正面的影響。
為了解ASHRAE Standard 55是否適用於年齡、健康狀況以及居住行為不同於一般人的住院病患，本研究以中部某醫學中心83間內、外科病房的住院病患為對象，以現場實測和問卷調查同步進行的方式調查住院病患的熱舒適性。從2005年一月到六月之間，收集有效問卷933份，其中冬天442份，夏天491份。問卷中除了對病患的熱舒適進行評估，亦詢問病患的背景資料以及對病房環境特性的滿意度。
實測結果發現因為溼度控制不當，大多數實測數據並未落在舒適區內，但仍有超過八成的受訪者對熱環境表示滿意。藉由機率迴歸分析發現住院病患的冬、夏兩季的中性溫度分別為23 °C ET*和24°C ET*，喜好溫度為23.3°C ET*和24°C ET*，舒適溫度範圍為21.4°C ET*~25.2°C ET*，較ASHRAE Standard 55建議的舒適溫度範圍窄。卡方檢定的結果發現住院病患的健康狀況與其熱感覺相關，但年齡、住院天數以及原居住地都未達顯著水準。虛弱群不論是在中性溫度、喜好溫度或者舒適溫度範圍上都略高於健康群約1°C ET*，與其他場所的研究相比則擴大到1.4~2.5°C ET*之間，顯示住院病患想要有較暖和的熱舒適環境。
In recent ten years, the ratio of hospitalization grows more than fifty percent. A comfortable environment of ward is more and more important. If an inpatient stays in a comfortable environment, it will make an active influence on recovering.
This project examines the comfort criteria of ASHRAE Standard 55 for the application of inpatients. Field experiments used survey questionnaires and physical measurements were conducted in 83 medical and surgical wards of a medical center in Taichung. A total of 933 data were collected from January to June in 2005, and there were 442 data in winter and 491 data in summer.
Field measurements show that most measured thermal environments don’t fall in comfort zone, due to inappropriate humidity control, but there are still more than eighty percent of subjects accept the thermal environment they occupied. According to the probit regressive analysis, the thermal neutral temperatures for inpatients in winter and summer occurred at 23℃ ET* and 24℃ ET* respectively, and thermal preferred temperatures occurred at 23.3℃and 24℃ ET*. The range of acceptable thermal comfort zones of inpatients is 21.4℃~25.2℃ ET*, which is narrower than that recommended by the ASHRAE Standard 55. The chi-square tests were applied to find the significant aspects that affect the inpatients’ thermal sensations. The results show that health status of inpatients has significant influence but the age, gender, and the time to be in hospital have no statistical significance. The weak group is a little higher by 1°C ET* then the healthy group. Comparing with the results of the experiments in other places, the range enlarges to 2°C ET*. The result shows that the inpatients want warmer thermal comfort conditions.
