Design preferences for physical environment in Iranian Hospital Wards / Sharona Ghorbani

There is a global need for better healthcare facilities especially in developing countries. In Iran, environmental and design facilities for healthcare spaces have gradually improved over the years. However, there is a need to review the current quality of healthcare facilities design based on inpatients and visitors feedback. There is an absence of satisfaction on the extent of comfort and quality environment provided to hospital wards. Current uncomfortable hospital wards’ design does not assist to avoid stress of inpatients during hospitalisation. In addition, the use of low quality and unsustainable materials/finishes or inadequate lighting in both terms of natural and artificial sources, regardless of inpatients and visitors’ preferences, may make the wards uncomfortable from a hospitalised inpatient’s point of view. To explore strategies to improve the conduciveness of hospital wards, the objectives of this study were set in three stages: the first objective was to evaluate the satisfaction factors among inpatients and visitors towards the hospital wards’ physical design in Iran.