Why are medical buildings so cold?

Thread Starter

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
I caught this idea from Maxpower and decided to start a thread.

Anyone that has awaken after surgery knows the first job is to get warm. I think they keep the surgical suites cold because it reduces blood loss and keeps the surgeon from dripping sweat in the wound. After all, he is working hard and fast when he is doing surgery. Then you find that the standard hospital room is cold, the doctors office is cold, and so on. I see nurses wearing sweaters when it's 90 degrees F outside. I have crawled out of my sick bed to turn the thermostat up.

Why do they do that?
 

luvv

Joined May 26, 2011
191
Perhaps the cold gives a sense of sterility?

No idea really..have often wondered the same when I had the occasion to wear one on those rear exposing gowns...
 

killivolt

Joined Jan 10, 2010
835
All I've found is it slows the spread of Germs and Bacteria.

#12 your right, they also say that it is more comfortable for the Doctors and Nurses. Keeps them from sweating feeling to hot.

Edit: I really never thought about it. It's a good question.
 

Thread Starter

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
Perhaps the cold gives a sense of sterility?

No idea really..have often wondered the same when I had the occasion to wear one on those rear exposing gowns...
I think they are called, "Seymour" gowns. (see more:D)
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
While I don't know myself why myself I do know it is good for the respiratory system. Air conditioning was invented for a tuberculosis clinic by a doctor. My mom had COPD, it was what killed her in the end. Air conditioning and cold air was not a luxury for her, it kept her alive longer than the doctors gave her to live.

It kept my Dad very uncomfortable however, since diabetes is just the opposite. Different diseases, different sensitivities.
 

strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
They put you in a 60 degree room with nothing but half a thin sheet to cover up with and leave you there for hours. Nobody questions it until now. I equate that to taking your car to the mechanic, and while waiting to get to your car, they set it out in the 110 degree summer sun with butane heaters blowing into the front of it and the accelerator held down with a brick. Hey, if it breaks down, it's already at the mechanic.
 

Sue_AF6LJ

Joined Mar 16, 2013
45
Actually I like it cold in the hospital and in my room when I sleep.
If it were up to me my room would be no more than about fifty degrees.
Here in Southern California its always too hot. One of the windows in my room is always open, so is the other, however it has a peace of Lexan in place of the screen, which provides a means to bring in transmission lines in for the radio gear. :)

The window that has the screen in it has only been closed for short periods of time, never for weather, once for the 2003 and 2007 firestorms we had down here it was closed for a week or so, I didn't care to breathe ash thank you. Other than those occasions the window stays open for both fresh air and cooling.

Besides it never gets cold enough here to run a heater.

This is what living in central Oregon for four years will do to you, everything over 70 degrees is HOT.
 

Thread Starter

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
This is what living in central Oregon for four years will do to you, everything over 70 degrees is HOT.
Come spend August in Florida. That will cure your perception of what "hot" is!

I moved to California for 5 years, and it took me nearly a year to adapt to how cool it is there. I would get a slight bit warm and break out in the drenching sweat that is Florida Living. Then the desert air would hit me and chill the sweat to about 39 degrees, and I'd start sneezing. I had to wear a trench coat for months while I adjusted to the cool that is California. And that was after I spent a snowy 4 months in Indiana! (Christmas with the family, then waiting for Mardi Gras before going west.) From drenching sweats to repairing a truck, cold steel at 20 degrees in the snow, and then California took some adjusting to? Go figure.

ps, (Agreement) I never learned how to light the heater in my apartment when I lived in California.
 
Last edited:

Rbeckett

Joined Sep 3, 2010
208
I caught this idea from Maxpower and decided to start a thread.

Anyone that has awaken after surgery knows the first job is to get warm. I think they keep the surgical suites cold because it reduces blood loss and keeps the surgeon from dripping sweat in the wound. After all, he is working hard and fast when he is doing surgery. Then you find that the standard hospital room is cold, the doctors office is cold, and so on. I see nurses wearing sweaters when it's 90 degrees F outside. I have crawled out of my sick bed to turn the thermostat up.

Why do they do that?
Lower temps make it more difficult for pathogens to survive and multiply. Most med facilities are maintained at 68 degrees for just that reason. If the temp was allowed to get up to normal the bacteria could take hold and grow on just about any surface and for patients like me that could get really ugly quick. I have a line directly into my peritonium and have to maintain sterile field when I am connecting or disconnecting from the dializer to avoid giving myself peritonitis. Peritonitis can be fatal if it gets into your blood and you develope bacteremia like I did when I had my Aorta replaced and lost my kidneys. Theres a real reason, not just some over priced doc running the AC because he can...
Bob
 

Sue_AF6LJ

Joined Mar 16, 2013
45
Lower temps make it more difficult for pathogens to survive and multiply. Most med facilities are maintained at 68 degrees for just that reason. If the temp was allowed to get up to normal the bacteria could take hold and grow on just about any surface and for patients like me that could get really ugly quick. I have a line directly into my peritonium and have to maintain sterile field when I am connecting or disconnecting from the dializer to avoid giving myself peritonitis. Peritonitis can be fatal if it gets into your blood and you develope bacteremia like I did when I had my Aorta replaced and lost my kidneys. Theres a real reason, not just some over priced doc running the AC because he can...
Bob
This is what my roommate says, she works in the health care industry.
I have been in and out of hospital several times in my life and always found the cool in the OR and in recovery to be conducive to sleep.
 

Thread Starter

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
OK. We seem to have a consensus. Bacteria also get uncomfortable at temperatures below 70F.
 

gerty

Joined Aug 30, 2007
1,305
I caught this idea from Maxpower and decided to start a thread.

Anyone that has awaken after surgery knows the first job is to get warm. I think they keep the surgical suites cold because it reduces blood loss and keeps the surgeon from dripping sweat in the wound. After all, he is working hard and fast when he is doing surgery. Then you find that the standard hospital room is cold, the doctors office is cold, and so on. I see nurses wearing sweaters when it's 90 degrees F outside. I have crawled out of my sick bed to turn the thermostat up.

Why do they do that?
Well I found one reason this week. Went in for my annual physical and the air was out in the office. It was kinda humid and between that and, my hair,
they had a terrible time trying to get the EKG sensor pads to stick to me.
The nurse had to shave spots on my chest (as usual) wipe my skin , and stick a pad quickly. Ended up using about 20 pads for a 12 lead EKG...
 

Thread Starter

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
Aha. Sweaty people are slippery and hard to duct tape.

True, Joey. Cold air will have a lower dew point (than warm air) for its percentage of humidity, and everything else, being warmed by heat conducting into the building or radiating from humans, will not provide a condensing surface. If anything is going to condense, it will be on the outside of the building, not the inside (assuming no air leaks jetting outside air into the building).

Thanks, guys.
 
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