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How to Choose Waiting Chairs for Hospitals & Clinics?

When it comes to selecting the waiting room chairs for healthcare facilities, it is crucial to consider every specific feature to meet the patients' needs. Waiting rooms are a significant pain experience for people whose emotions - anxiety, fear, confusion, frustration, annoyance are running high. Hence, it is quite vital to ensure your patients are feeling peaceful in your waiting room.

These days, healthcare furniture is not only about the patient's waiting time, but it is the first chance to tell patients about your care. Now we know the importance of patient's comfort in the healthcare centre, what will you look for in waiting room chairs?

Here are the 10 top things to consider in the furniture to transform your waiting space more ideal and welcoming to the visitors

Waiting Chair Duty Cycle

Considering how many times a person sits on the chair in 24 hours, we can decide the furniture's duty cycle. Before determining the furniture, let's tally up the approximate number of people who come through your healthcare centre.

As the healthcare organization has a heavy-duty cycle environment of 24×7 function, it is suggested to choose the chairs made with high-quality materials and have heavy seating capacity. If it's a low duty cycle environment, you can go for the lighter furniture.

Comfort & Ergonomics

It is no secret that patients don't enjoy sitting in a waiting room. On top, if you have uncomfortable furniture, it will make the wait endless. So, the chairs you choose should not only be soft enough to support one's spine, but it should acknowledge the importance of psychological comfort as well.

Here, combining comfort with ergonomics will make the experience much better. When you add the ergonomically designed chair to your waiting space, it can help improve the overall patient experience, their perception of your facility and care.

Load Carrying Capacity

It is also essential to consider the occupants' weight as most of the people are heavier in this modern era. However, according to this point, it is vital to select the design to make the patients feel comfortable. In general, choosing the standard sizes with heavy load capacity will help the users accommodate the chairs without uneasiness.

Seat Height

The hospital seats' ideal height should be between 430 to 460mm, which allows the users to stand and sit in a more controlled manner. If it's for bariatric or semi-bariatric models, then the average seat height is about 480mm. Ergonomically designed furniture at the people's height can ensure proper support and posture better for all ages.

Easy to clean & sanitize

Unlike other organization needs, having furniture that can be easily cleaned and disinfected is essential in the healthcare industry due to visitors' high traffic. The material you choose should go along with ease of cleaning and added with antimicrobial properties.

No one wants to sit on a chair that has a significant stain on it. Hence, it is suggested to avoid plush fabrics or untreated woven coverings that can easily absorb liquids and retain stains. It is better to look for antimicrobial vinyl as they are specifically designed to avoid the spread of germs.

Quality of Material Used in Chairs

Quality of material is perhaps the most crucial consideration while selecting your seating requirements in a healthcare environment. Upholstery material is the best choice as it will provide comfort to the patients and aids in infection control, and are more resistant to germs. However, you can also opt for a wide array of upholstery materials on the market with vinyl coverings.

Choice of colors

In a healthcare environment, the choice of colors should be calm and tranquil to create a peaceful environment for the patients. It should be focused on the functionality rather than the design coding. Incorporating bright colors will lead to a warm and happy environment, while the soft colors will relax the patients by providing greater efficiency.

With or Without Arm selection

Some people prefer the individual chairs which have the option of arms, which offer delineated personal space. It is best to choose the seating with arms, as they provide support when sitting and standing by reducing the risk of accidental falls. In case you go for without-arm chairs, then it's necessary to ensure the width is sufficient for the users who may require more space.

Cost & Life Balance

When it comes to healthcare furniture, cheap will not be an excellent option to consider as it may result in more damage and replacement costs. Quality and durability don't come for free; hence investing in the best grade of furniture for your waiting area will assure a better warranty period even with 10+ years and prevent future issues.

Longevity

Looks and comfort are essential features in hospital chairs; however, less longevity will lead to frequent replacement. Due to the high volume of visitors in the hospital, the seating in waiting areas should be sturdy and have a long-lasting life.

Hospital furniture needs to have more durability and is made of high-quality materials resistant to both staining and scratching.

Finding the best waiting room chairs for hospitals has different requirements than a standard office. However, with the above effective measures applied, we hope it would be an easy task to convert the whole waiting room to a much calmer environment and deliver better clinical care.

Syona Roots is the leading healthcare chair manufacturer in India. Our ergonomically designed chairs give a positive and convenient experience for the patients. Extend a warm welcome to your visitors with Syona's quality furniture that speaks class and comfort.