Reconsidering the semiprivate inpatient room in u.s. Hospitals

Care to Share? Patients in Private Rooms Are More Likely to Recommend a Hospital to Others

A patient's likelihood to recommend a hospital is used to assess the quality of their experience. This study investigated whether room type influences patients' likelihood to recommend Stanford Health Care using Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey data from November 2018 to February 2021 (n = 10,703). The percentage of patients who gave the top response was calculated as a top box score, and the effects of room type, service line, and the COVID-19 pandemic were represented as odds ratios (ORs). Patients in private rooms were more likely to recommend than patients in semi-private rooms (aOR: 1.32; 95% CI: 1.16-1.51; 86% vs 79%, p < .001), and service lines with only private rooms had the greatest increases in odds of a top response. The new hospital had significantly higher top box scores than the original hospital (87% vs 84%, p < .001), indicating that room type and hospital environment impact patients' likelihood to recommend.

Semiprivate space and access to online education during COVID-19: empirical tests from China

Purpose

Although the use of online technology has generated excitement over its potential to increase access to education, most existing research has focused on comparing online and in-person student performance. This study provides empirical evidence that semiprivate space at the family level affects students' access to online education.

Design/methodology/approach

Students from 1,565 low-income households in China were surveyed, and a multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted on the hypothesized factors that affect access to online education at home.

Findings

The results show that the absence of computers, smartphones and broadband networks at home severely hinders children's access to online education, and even leads to their exclusion from it. Children with their fathers or paternal grandfathers as guardians have a lower probability of receiving online education at home. It was also found that the higher the education level of the head of the household, the more likely it is that children will receive online education at home.

Originality/value

This study is one of the first to examine online accessibility at the family level. It also demonstrates that the semiprivate space at the family level may limit opportunities for students who would otherwise pursue online education at home.

Towards a building typology and terminology for Irish hospitals

BACKGROUND

The physical form of the hospital environment shapes the care setting and influences the relationship of the hospital to the community. Due to ongoing demographic change, evolving public health needs, and advancing medical practice, typical hospitals are frequently redeveloped, retrofitted, or expanded. It is argued that multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder approaches are required to ensure that hospital design matches these increasingly complex needs. To facilitate such a conversation across different disciplines, experts, and community stakeholders, it is helpful to establish a hospital typology and associated terminology as part of any collaborative process.

AIMS

Examine the literature around hospital design, and review the layout and overall form of a range of typical Irish acute public hospitals, to outline an associated building typology, and to establish the terminology associated with the planning and design of these hospitals in Ireland.

METHODS

Searches in 'Academic Search Complete', 'Compendex', 'Google', 'Google Scholar', 'JSTOR', 'PADDI', 'Science Direct', 'Scopus', 'Web of Science', and Trinity College Dublin Library. The search terms included: 'hospital design history'; 'hospital typology'; 'hospital design terminology'; and 'hospital design Ireland'.

RESULTS

Typical hospitals are composed of different layouts due to development over time; however, various discrete building typologies can still be determined within many hospitals. This paper presents a typology illustrating distinct layout, circulation, and physical form characteristics, along with a hospital planning and design terminology of key terms and definitions.

CONCLUSION

This typology and terminology define the main components of Irish hospital building design to create a shared understanding around design, and support stakeholder engagement, as part of any collaborative design process.

An Exploratory and Comparative Evaluation on the Spatial Perception of Two Densities of Multioccupancy Hospital Rooms

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this article was to explore interior spatial qualifications on patient perception of two densities of multioccupancy hospital rooms.

BACKGROUND

The research setting of this study was the three- and six-person capacity hospital rooms used for treatment of patients at a large hospital in a major metropolitan city in Turkey.

METHOD

The subjects used in the study were randomly selected from among patients treated in the surgical medical sciences' departments of the hospital. Accordingly, a research questionnaire was applied to a total of 101 subjects.

RESULTS

Results have shown that the three-person rooms were assessed more positively for privacy, functional, and perceptual qualifications compared to the six-person rooms. An increase in the number of persons and interior units of rooms affects negatively the auditory privacy and privacy areas of other patients.

CONCLUSION

Consequently, although these rooms with different spatial sizes were very similar for concentration of persons and commodities, six-person rooms were perceived to be more crowded than three-person rooms.

Design Characteristics of Acute Care Units in China

OBJECTIVE:

To describe the current state of design characteristics of acute care units in China's public hospitals and compare these with characteristics with acute care units in the United States.

BACKGROUND:

The healthcare construction industry in China is one of the fastest growing sectors in China and, arguably, in the world. Understanding the physical design of acute care units in China is of great importance because it will influence a large population.

METHODS:

Descriptive study was performed of unit configuration, size, patient visibility, distance to nursing station and supplies, and lighting conditions in 25 units in 19 public hospitals built after 2003. Data and information were collected based on spatial and visibility analysis.

RESULTS:

The study identified major design characteristics of the recently built (from 2003 onward) acute care units in China, comparing them, where appropriate, with those in U.S. It found there are three dominant types of unit layout: single-corridor (52%), triangular (36%), and double-corridor (12%). The number of private rooms is very low (11%), compared with two- or three-bed rooms. Centralized nursing stations are the only type of nurses' working area. China also has a large unit size in terms of number of patient beds. The average number of patient beds in a unit is 40.6 in China (versus 32.9 in U.S.). The care units in China have longer walking distance from nursing station to patient bedside. The percentage of beds visible from a nursing station is lower in China than in the U.S. The access to natural light and direct sunlight in patient rooms is greater in China compared with those in U.S.—100% of patient rooms in China have natural lighting. A majority of them face south or southeast and thus receiving direct sunlight (91.4%).

CONCLUSIONS:

Because of the differences in economies and building codes, there are dramatic differences between the spatial characteristics of acute care units in China and the United States.