Who hasn't had a poor experience because of a bad
hospital room? Who hasn't gotten lost in a maze of elevators, corridors, and
waiting areas? Why is the cafeteria so hard to get to in many hospitals? Most
antiquated hospital designs don't work for the patient or their visitors.
The typical hospital room, with its beige walls and
stingy windows, carries a dim, funereal cast and works against patient
well-being. The standard twin-bedded configuration doesn't help, fostering the
spread of infection, making sleep difficult, and giving people at their sickest
the dignity of life in a freshman dorm.
The latest issue of Fast
Company magazine covers an emerging
movement for modern, well-designed hospitals that cater to the patient, not
just the doctors and nurses who pop in for a few minutes at a time.
Administrators used to think cramming more patients in the same space was good
for the bottom line. Maybe it was back then. Nobody likes to share a room with
other patients when they are sick and uncomfortable, and patients have more
choices for healthcare than they did in the past.
The new look hospitals will be a godsend to patients. All patients will have
their own room, with large windows and comfortable beds. The rooms will be
tech-savvy with a media wall, hi-speed WiFi and other modern
technologies. Video chats can replace phone calls between patients and family
or friends. Bathrooms will be spacious and accommodating - in contrast,
many old hospital bathrooms aren't even large enough for a walker. In the new
designs, nurses will have better line-of-sight angles to monitor their
patients.
What's changed to allow the design of a hospital to be
more patient-friendly? The fee-for-service model is moving toward a flat fee
for an entire episode of care, such as a hip replacement or a heart procedure.
This will help eliminate over-billing for many things, such as the $150
Tylenol pill.
These changes are already in the works in some places, but the overall hospital
system won't change overnight. While some new hospitals are utilizing these new
designs, it will take decades to revamp or rebuild a majority of the 5,800
hospitals in the U.S. The best of the new hospitals will be built from the
ground up, rather than retooling existing buildings.
Better hospitals will improve the level of care we can provide. This is exactly
the kind of innovation we need.
