A hospital room is a place where you spend time with a health care team that helps you heal. Often you’ll have a nurse caring for you 24 hours a day, and housekeeping staff will come by during the day to clean your room.
You’ll have a bed, a TV and other equipment that will help you feel comfortable. You’ll also have a nurse call button to tell your nurse what you need. You may want to bring your own pillow, sleeping mask and ear plugs so you can sleep well during your stay.
The Hospital’s Team
You’ll have a team of health care professionals caring for you at all times, including doctors, nurses and nursing assistants. They’ll check in on you at regular intervals, and they’ll make sure that your medicine schedules work for you. They’ll be able to adjust your monitors and other tools to help you get the rest you need.
Your hospital experience will depend on the type of hospital you are admitted to and the medical condition you have. Some hospitals have specialized floors or areas for certain types of patients, like kids and teens. They usually have a staff that understands the needs of younger people and has training in working with them.
Family Spaces
Families are an important part of a patient’s care and recovery, and they need spaces that support their role. For example, they need to be able to sit close enough for eye-level conversations with the patient and their doctor, have easy access to phones and personal computing devices, and be able to charge their devices when needed.
They need a welcoming environment that considers the fundamental needs of friends and family members, as well as helps them partner with clinicians to provide a seamless and comprehensive care plan. Keeping these needs in mind, architects can create rooms that are both functional and welcoming.
Connected Smart Technology
Patient rooms that incorporate connected smart technologies can improve hospital operations, staff efficiencies and improve the patient’s experience in the hospital. But integrating those systems takes more than buying pieces of technology. It requires a vision and a strategy for making those technologies fit cohesively into the hospital’s goals and priorities.
The most effective smart room designs focus on the essential elements that patients and their families need to have a successful hospital stay. This includes connecting with their health care team through the use of interactive white boards and personalized push notifications, as well as having basic TV channels that are designed to calm the mind and promote healing.
In-Room Education
Educating patients on their condition and health is critical to their healing process, and smart rooms integrate information on test results, medications and educational videos right into the room. In addition, smart room features allow patients and their families to review their discharge plan and checklists without leaving their rooms.
Communication and Collaboration
Most patients’ number one complaint about their hospital stay is that they are not getting the proper communication they need. Smart room features, such as interactive white boards and TVs with a built-in EMR, allow staff to put usable and understandable data in the patient’s hands that they can view without leaving their beds.