The assessment of users' satisfaction towards the interior design quality of inpatient units at public tertiary hospitals in Malaysia: a mixed-methods study / Shariffah Syafiqah Aljunid Syed Mohamed Aljunid

The physical environment of healthcare facilities has a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of the users. A pleasant and positive environment is proven to support recovery process, reduce stress and most importantly, improve satisfaction. A hospital building is designed and built primarily to meet the needs and desires of its users, especially those of the inpatient units, which takes up the majority of the hospital area and are where patients spend the most time to recover. This research aims to determine the users' satisfaction level towards the interior design quality of the inpatient units in Malaysian public hospitals within the Klang Valley region. A total of 1,373 respondents comprised of 473 patients, 399 staff and 501 visitors from 17 inpatient units of Obstetrics and Gynaecology specialist department participated in the questionnaire surveys to measure the users' satisfaction level and identify the influencing factors. Then, as a follow up to the questionnaire survey, the current physical condition of the inpatient units was assessed as case studies by conducting semi-structured interviews with 29 patients, 27 staff and 17 visitors and on-site observations based on the variables that were found to be significant to the users' satisfaction level as themes. At the end of the analysis, data triangulation was performed to trace any discrepancies between the two methodologies. The findings from the questionnaire survey revealed patients as the most satisfied group (mean=3.82) on overall interior design quality, followed by visitors (mean=3.73) and staff (mean=3.61). The research further revealed that space planning, materials and finishes, air quality and privacy have a significant influence on the users' satisfaction, in addition to the users' type, education level, and visit frequency. The case study findings provided evidence that successfully described the inpatient units' existing physical state as satisfactory, validating the grounds for the questionnaire survey results. In summary, this research represents an attempt to support the importance of the physical environment in fostering hospital users’ satisfaction. It demonstrates significant progress in understanding the current situation of the country's healthcare facilities, especially in the light of quality in interior design, while providing information that will hopefully inspire professionals to design better inpatient units in the future.