# Thermal Comfort Applied in Hospital Environments: A Literature Review
## 4 Discussion
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Study**} & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**PMV**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Season or Period of Data**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Sample**} \\ \cline{2-2} \cline{4-5}  & **Predicted Well** & **Overestimated** & **Underestimated** & **Not Suitable for Predict** & **Collection** & \\ \hline
[18] & & & x & & November 2017 & 55 pregnant women \\
[45] & & x & & Winter and Spring & 93 respondents \\
[51] & & x & & & Summer & 114 occupants \\
[21] & x & & & Winter and Spring & 99 patients \\
[56] & & & x & May and June (2011) & 110 questionnaires \\
[57] & & & x & May 2011 to February 2012 & 188 questionnaires \\
[59] & & & x & 31 st March to 7 th June 2011 & 55 staff members \\
[64] & & x & & Not available & Not available \\
[17] & & & x & October and November, 2011 & 58 subjects interviewed \\
[69] & x & & & Summer & 37 respondents \\
[74] & & & x & July to November, 2015 and & 451 patients, 331 visitors \\
[20] & & & x & March to May 2016 and 146 medical staff \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 8: Discrepancies between predicted mean vote (PMV) and thermal sensation vote (TSV). RQ3: Considering Studies in Thermal Comfort in Hospital Environments, What Was the Most Evaluated Group and Which Area Within Hospital Was Most Evaluated? In order to answer this question, Table 9 was created. This table contains the specifications of the target group and the site within the hospital environment in which the study was conducted, also presenting the main findings:  
Regarding the most explored group in the literature, \"staff\" and \"patients\" are tied as the most evaluated, and each one is presented in 30 (71.43%) and 29 (69.05%) articles, respectively out of the 42 studies. Twenty articles bring both together. The \"visitants\" group is present in eight works. This distribution was already expected, since both staff and patients are the means and the ends of a hospital environment and are the protagonists of the typical activity performed in these environments. In a more in-depth way, the following distribution for the \"staff\" group of works that brought some specification in relation to the type of employee includes: the surgical team (8); nurses (5), doctors (2), and nursing assistants (2). For the \"patients\" group, only two studies specify the type of patient studied. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [36] studied full-term babies and premature babies; more recently, [PERSON], [PERSON], and [PERSON] [18] concentrated efforts to assess the relationship between thermal comfort and pregnant women. This finding shows a gap in thermal comfort studies, since several types of patients and their relationship with the thermal environment have not been explored. Regarding the site within the hospital environment in which the articles were conducted, most of the articles have specifications. The most explored places in the literature were the wards (17) and the operating rooms (12), corresponding to 40.47% and 28.57%, of the total studies, respectively. The other places, such as the administrative part or waiting rooms, have been little studied, showing that new research can be done in these places. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Reference** & \multicolumn{3}{c}{**Group**} & **Site** & **Main Findings** \\ \cline{2-5}  & **Staff** & **Patients** & **Visitor** & & & \\ \hline [PERSON], [PERSON] and [PERSON] [14] & Surgical Team & & & & & Surgeons and anesthesiologists differ from other professionals in their thermal preferences: surgeons per aortic aortic aortic environment, while anesthesiologists prefer a warmer environment. \\ [PERSON] and [PERSON] [15] & & * & & & The temperature chosen by patients to achieve thermal comfort was 20.5 \({}^{\circ}\)C. \\ [PERSON] and [PERSON] [36] & * & Full-term babies and premature babies & & & Temperature range of 2/-30 \({}^{\circ}\)C for nurses and 33-34 \({}^{\circ}\)C for patients.