A study led by the University of Michigan investigated whether certain hospital room features may affect a patient’s recovery after high risk surgery.


There is particular interest as to whether certain hospital room features can impact mortality and length of stay post-surgery.

 

Prior research already shed light on this matter, having demonstrated that a window view has a positive impact on patient recovery. Additional research found that critically ill patients in ICU rooms, who are not in good vision of the medical staff, are more likely to experience worse outcomes.

 

Overall, researchers found there is a tendency for sicker patients to be assigned rooms with the features that are assumed to promote stronger recovery. These patients were more likely to have the single rooms, closer to a nursing station, within direct line of sight and have a widow view.

 

This study involved 3,964 patients who underwent 13 high-risk surgical procedures at the University of Michigan Hospital between 2016 and 2019. The patients were admitted to rooms on two hospital floors.  

 

After adjusting for patient comorbidities and complexity of the operation, the rate of mortality was higher by 20% for patients admitted to a hospital room without a window, as opposed to those who had a window. For patients who had a window in the room, the 30-day mortality rate was 10% lower than for patients who did not have a window in their room.

 

Overall, the findings of this study revealed that hospital design may be influencing recovery as patients appeared to have different outcomes across room design features.

 

Andrew M. Ibrahim, coauthor, MD and assistant professor, noted the importance of not over-looking the relationship between hospital design and patient care. It is critical that we improve our understanding of which design features may improve patient outcomes.


The next stage would be to investigate these outcomes at multiple hospitals to see if the results are generalisable.


As Dr. Ibrahim said, “Just the way we have developed precision health models for getting the right care to the patient, there may be a corollary for the right room for the right patient and procedure to optimize outcomes collectively”.


Source: American College of Surgeons

Image Credit: iStock

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References:

Mead MJet al. (2022) Evaluating Mortality and Hospital Room Design after High-Risk Inpatient Surgery.Scientific Forum. American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress. 




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critically ill, hospital rooms, clinical outcomes A study led by the University of Michigan investigated whether certain hospital room features may affect a patient’s recovery after high risk surgery.