Maintaining comfortable indoor conditions within hospitals, health systems, or stand-alone clinics can be a difficult task during the cold, blustery months of winter. For facilities in regions that experience extreme winter weather, building maintenance and operations teams need to consider individual patient rooms, communal care or waiting areas, and staff-only offices, among many other spaces. As outdoor conditions change, keeping these areas comfortable for patients, staff, and visitors requires attention to more than just the on-wall thermostat.
Heating, ventilating, and air conditioning systems play an important role in maintaining indoor comfort throughout the colder months. Facility teams need visibility into both temperature and humidity to understand conditions across their buildings and identify areas that need attention to keep patient comfort levels high.
Fortunately for facilities team members, there is a benefit-rich technology that can help hospital staff easily stay on top of their ambient air conditions: OneVue Sense® Environmental Monitoring by Primex. The automated monitoring from the Ambient Air Temperature and Humidity sensor gives facility teams access to readings and alerts without them even having to in the room.
Keeping Patients Comfortable Throughout Winter’s Cold
Many factors influence how comfortable a patient feels within an inpatient setting. Noise levels, lighting, bedding, and indoor air conditions all contribute to the patient experience. Temperature preferences also vary, making it difficult to keep everyone comfortable with a single, buildingwide setting.
During winter, facility teams need a way to read the temperature and humidity levels that patients are experiencing in individual rooms and care areas. It’s essential to remember that a thermostat setting does not provide the same visibility as temperature and humidity measurements collected where a patient spends time.
The OneVue Sense Ambient Air Monitoring Solution helps provide that visibility. This mountable environmental monitoring device automatically measures ambient air temperature and humidity around the clock. Readings appear on the device’s LCD screen and are sent to the mobile-friendly OneVue® Software platform, allowing staff to check conditions locally or remotely.
With accessible in-room-condition data, facility staff can make more informed decisions about where to investigate comfort concerns and act accordingly. For further insight, teams can review historical recorded data within OneVue to help determine trends in certain areas that may constantly need attention, which could signify a larger, building infrastructure-related issue.
Staying Ahead of Temperature and Humidity Changes
Keeping a room warm is only one part of maintaining indoor comfort during winter. Humidity also deserves attention, and monitoring temperature alone leaves facility teams without a complete picture of the conditions measured by an ambient air monitoring system.
OneVue Sense allows staff to establish temperature and humidity thresholds for monitored spaces. If a reading rises above or falls below its configured range, the system can notify designated staff through email, text message, or phone call. This helps teams identify out-of-range conditions even when they are working elsewhere in the facility, campus, or even while at home.
For winter operations, that visibility can help teams prioritize which rooms or areas to inspect. A temperature or humidity alert can prompt an investigation into a heating concern or the need to review moisture conditions and HVAC operation. OneVue provides the information to facility staff that can determine the appropriate corrective action.
Indoor comfort condition thresholds should reflect the needs of each monitored space rather than a single assumption about comfort throughout the building. Patient rooms, waiting areas, and specialized clinical spaces serve different purposes, making room-specific monitoring valuable when managing indoor conditions.
OneVue Sense Automated Monitoring for Winter Comfort
While “comfort” is largely subjective, and different individuals prefer different indoor temperatures and humidity levels, maintaining comfortable conditions across a healthcare facility requires both attention to occupant needs and visibility into the spaces they use.
OneVue Sense Ambient Air Temperature and Humidity Monitoring combines local readings with remote access, giving authorized users access to measured conditions wherever sensors are installed. During winter, that means facility teams can check monitored areas without making a separate trip to each room simply to read the thermostat’s display.
In addition to near-real-time data, users can automate scheduled reports or generate reports on demand. These records give teams a way to review measured conditions over time and simplifies any auditing situations related to proper environmental monitoring documentation.
Other OneVue Sense solutions can complement ambient air monitoring throughout the facility. OneVue Sense Temperature Monitoring strengthens the safe storage of temperature-sensitive assets, Differential Pressure Monitoring helps staff manage pressure conditions in specialized spaces, and Water Leak Monitoring detects unexpected water where sensors are installed. For easy facilitywide management, each solution reports into the same, cloud-based OneVue Software platform.
Ensuring indoor comfort during winter is more complicated than simply turning up the heat. Automated temperature and humidity monitoring squashes any difficulties that healthcare facility teams have when monitoring indoor comfort conditions. OneVue Sense provides a closer watch on indoor conditions and uses measured data to guide teams to respond accordingly to maintain comfort throughout the cold winter season.
Contact us today to get started with OneVue Sense at your healthcare facility.
