HOSPITAL FURNITURE: EXPECTATIONS OF PATIENTS TOWARD FURNITURE IN HEALTHCARE SETTING

Furniture plays an important role in healthcare setting. It creates a welcoming atmosphere to the patients and families as they enter the building. Furniture influences the feelings of the patients and visitors both negatively and positively, therefore attention on high quality with good furnishing design is needed. A cross sectional descriptive study design conducted in Outpatient departments (OPDs) and Inpatient department (IPDs) in a tertiary care hospital, Bangalore. Using checklist and questionnaire- based survey which includes 110 OPD patients and 70 IPD patients. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics. After obtaining the result, it was identified that majority of the respondents of both OPD and IPD patients showed that aesthetic, ergonomics and cleanability features are required and expected to incorporate in these areas. The study concluded that high quality design is needed to consider while selecting hospital furniture to maximize the quality of facilities in the organization.