Healthcare Design - November 2014 - 50

Left: In a patient room at
the Miami Valley Hospital
Heart and Orthopedic Center
in Dayton, Ohio, designed
by NBBJ, the caregiver
workstation and handwashing
sink are located adjacent to
the room door to reinforce
infection control protocols,
while a wardrobe includes
shelving and a lockable safe
for patients and family to
store belongings during their
stay. Below, left: The room
geometry at Miami Valley
minimizes travel distance
from the bed to the toilet
and provides a handrail for
support to reduce patient
falls.

While monitoring may decline as a role of the
patient room, it's likely that what's performed within
the space will only be enhanced. "As patients
become more acute, [providers] are going to want
to move them less while they're there. So that
means if they need to do a CAT scan or provide
some imaging services, I think those types of things
are going to become more mobile and the patient
room is going to become more like an operatory,"
Rodenbeck says.
Jones agrees, anticipating that diagnostic and
treatment areas will remain a piece of the puzzle,

Now more and more of that stuff can be done in the
room. The patient doesn't have to move, the family
can watch and see the situation unfold in front of
them, and the patient can be more comfortable
because their environment is more stable. By doing
that, you start reducing stress levels and presumably foster a higher level of recovery," he says.
Improving outcomes-alongside keeping patients and staff safe and maintaining patient and
family satisfaction-is and always will be the name
of the game.
"When a patient is in the hospital, it's only

but that once a patient reaches a room, they'll
stay there. "It will be less of, 'We're going to roll

because they can't get care at home. And when
a patient is in the hospital, the place they spend

you out for a lab visit and be back in an hour.'

most of their time is in the room. So let's create a
room that's very efficient for staff, that's safest for
patients, and allows us to maximize our reimbursement. It's critical and we need to be paying attention," McCullough says. HCD

MORE ONLINE
t Evidence-based design has helped shape many elements that are now standards in patient
room design, including daylighting, views of nature, and family space. But there are plenty
of common approaches and innovations that designers would like to see researched to
support their merit. For more on what the next wave of evidence-based design might
capture, visit HCDmagazine.com/patient-room-ebd.
t Healthcare Design is taking the patient room conversation on the road, asking attendees of
the 2014 Healthcare Design Conference (Nov. 15-18, San Diego) what the future of patient
room design means to them. Watch for video of the results at HCDmagazine.com.

HCDmagazine.com 11.14

Jennifer Kovacs Silvis is executive editor of Healthcare Design. She can be reached at jsilvis@vendome
grp.com.

http://www.grp.com http://www.HCDmagazine.com/patient-room-ebd http://www.HCDmagazine.com http://www.HCDmagazine.com

Healthcare Design - November 2014

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