Let's start with the basics. Currently, when designing hospitals, the focus is on the site - on what the building should be like and how the ventilation and heating systems should function in it. This is of course extremely important. But the subject can also be approached from the more human side.

- A human-centred indoor climate is defined as a micro-environment that surrounds and is close to the human body - explains Prof. Anna Bogdan of the Faculty of Building Services, Hydro and Environmental Engineering at the Warsaw University of Technology, project coordinator. - This means that conditions such as temperature, humidity and air quality are adjusted to be as comfortable and healthy as possible for the person in the environment.

Why is the indoor climate in hospitals so important?

The human-centred indoor climate in hospitals plays a key role in ensuring safe and effective healthcare delivery. Operating theatres, isolation rooms, treatment rooms and laboratories enable increasingly sophisticated patient treatment to be carried out safely, while wards, consultation rooms and waiting areas provide the necessary facilities for patient comfort and well-being during recovery.

- It is estimated that every year, more than 4 million patients in the European Union develop an infection related to their stay in healthcare facilities, and every day, around 80 000, i.e. 1 in 18 patients - says Prof. Anna Bogdan. - The hospital environment is responsible for 20 % of all hospital-acquired infections and there is clear evidence that building design and human activities contribute to the transmission of infectious diseases. It is estimated that improving the indoor environment in a hospital building can reduce the costs associated with airborne diseases by 9-20%.

And it is this improvement that the HumanIC network is addressing.

On the road to change

- Our aim is to develop a new approach to hospital space design - combining different elements, such as pollution sources and ventilation systems, with patient needs, medical requirements and efficient energy consumption - explains Prof Anna Bogdan.

The project will investigate where microorganisms come from in hospital settings, how they spread and float back into the air, and how our psychological sensations are linked to physiological measurements and bodily responses. Mathematical models, state-of-the-art control systems based on the Internet of Things and modern tools for real-time air condition monitoring, as well as computer simulations and augmented reality will be used.

The knowledge gained will be used to better design technical solutions, develop new methods for visualising and controlling indoor microclimate in hospital facilities. The next generation of scientists and engineers involved in environmental engineering are to be educated in this new approach.

- At the Warsaw University of Technology, research will be conducted into the parameters of airflow in the immediate surroundings of surgeons, medical staff and patients depending on their activity and body position, clothing and surgical procedure - says Prof Anna Bogdan. - The results of the research will be used, among other things, to develop models of heat exchange between medical staff/patients and the environment.

Collaboration

The HumanIC consortium consists of 17 partners - teams from universities and environmental engineering institutions and companies: Warsaw University of Technology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway), Technische Universität Berlin (Germany), KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), Aalto University (Finland), St. Olavs Hospital (Norway), University of Coimbra - Pólo II (Portugal), Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain), Fundación Para la Investigación Biomédica Hospital Gregorio Marañón (Spain), University of Leeds (England), Granlund Oy (Finland), Halton Oy (Finland), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Germany), ActiveTek Medica (Poland), REHVA (Brussels), Drees & Sommer SE (Germany), Avidicare AB (Sweden), Industria (Poland).

The project 'Human-centric indoor climate for healthcare facilities' (HumanIC) has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie programme (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-DN-01, project number 101119726).

More information on the website and the project's social media profiles: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and X.