What the research is about
The constant beeping of medical devices, harsh lighting, and sometimes dim spaces - intensive care units (ICUs) are on the front line of saving lives, but they are also highly unique working environments. A research team led by Assistant Professor Wataru Umishio of Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo) investigated how four environmental factors in ICUs - thermal environment, air quality, lighting, and sound - affect the working conditions of healthcare professionals.
Until now, many ICU studies have focused mainly on environments that support patient recovery, while the perspective of healthcare workers has received less attention. In this study, experts in architectural environmental engineering and medicine worked together to measure temperature, noise, and other environmental conditions in a university hospital ICU. The team also conducted surveys with doctors and nurses. By combining both objective measurements and staff perceptions, the researchers were able to provide a comprehensive picture of the ICU environment.
Why this matters
The study found that while air quality in the ICU was generally good, dissatisfaction with sound and lighting was particularly high. Noise levels, for example, remained above recommended levels even at night, mainly because of alarms from medical equipment.
The researchers also found major differences in brightness between areas with natural daylight and spaces without windows. Satisfaction with lighting and sound was strongly related to overall environmental satisfaction. In particular, staff who were more satisfied with the lighting environment also tended to report that they could concentrate better on their work.
One of the biggest challenges in this research was capturing the effects of the environment through both numerical data and human perception. Even if the temperature is the same, people may feel it differently. To address this, the team combined precise sensor measurements with questionnaire surveys, allowing them to carefully capture the effects of environmental conditions that are often difficult to notice.
What's next
In the future, it will become increasingly important to consider lighting and sound environments from the earliest stages of hospital design. Possible improvements include architectural designs that make better use of natural daylight and the use of sound-absorbing materials.
These changes could reduce stress on healthcare workers and ultimately improve the quality of patient care. The researchers also hope to compare results across different seasons and hospitals in order to develop broader guidelines for ICU environmental design.
Comment from the researcher
An ICU is not only a place for patients - it is also a workplace where healthcare professionals spend years, or even decades, of their working lives. The lighting and sound environment may influence concentration and decision-making. We believe that improving the environment can help support the quality of medical care itself.
This research was built on collaborations between researchers from the former Tokyo Medical and Dental University and the former Tokyo Institute of Technology, even before the integration of the two universities. By bringing together perspectives from clinical medicine and architectural design, we were able to identify challenges that had often been overlooked, leading to the findings of this study.
(Wataru Umishio, Assistant Professor, School of Environment and Society, Institute of Science Tokyo)
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