How would you make inpatient rooms better?

pattyweb · Mar 9, 2007

Also, call buttons near the floor, where most people remain once they fall.

I love it. So TRUE! :lol2:

ROBIN45 · Mar 11, 2007

I work in a nursing home. I'd have sterdier furniture and all electric beds. I'm tired of banging my shins on the cranks people leave out. I'd also have more electrical outlets in the rooms and all of them waist high. There needs to be larger bathrooms with wider doors for patients with walkers and wheel chairs to get into. Brighter lights would be good. The closets in the rooms need to be larger to fit clothes and extra supplies for the patient. Robin

fivewestortho · Apr 1, 2007

Have the least amount of furniture and the most pt friendly lounge chairs. I work on an ortho pedic post op floor with new hips and knees. We are constantly looking for walkers, bedside comodes, loungers, and call lights long enough to reach from the wall to where the pt is sitting. I also think that it was not a nurse who designed the lighting in some of the patient room. Where is ther extra light for dressing changes, foley catheters placement, pt reading. UGH!!! There is so much. I trained in a new hospital that found out that they had hung the bathroom doors backwards. UGH!!! They did not ask a nurse. Maybe that could be a new quiz program. Ask a nurse.

fleetwoodrn · Apr 8, 2007

I did a project in nursing school to design a patient room that was well recieved by instructors as well as students. It had a basic premis that it was a private room with nothing on the floor except the bed wheels. All the equipment was suspended from the cieling or walls. The visitor chairs were attached to the walls and folded out of the way when not in use. All the equipment for vital signs and Telemetry monitoring as well as the TV was mounted in a console above the bed with displays facing both sides of the bed. IV bags and pumps were mounted on tracks in the ceiling to allow movement within the room and into the bathroom without an IV pole to trip on. The TV was mounted to the patient could see it whether lying flat or sitting up as it moved within the overhead console with the movement of the bed position. Most equipment was remoted through "bluetooth" type wireless connection or was on a pull down tether from the console. Such as BP cuffs, O2 sensors, thermometer probes and tele monitors. phones were wireless and handsets were attached to the bed. The tray table was also attached to the bed on a slide rail that allowed it to be positioned all the way at the foot of the bed or turned to the side for tha patient in a chair (recliner) next to the bed. Having the equipment mounted in the room reduced the infection control risks as no equipment was being taken from room to room (patient to patient). Wall closets for linens and nursing supplies were mounted on the wall adjoining the hallway which allowed them to be restocked from the hallway and accessed from inside the room. Wall mounted swing arm lamps were mounted on both sides of the head of the bed for patient use and during patient treatments (Dressing changes, foley placement, etc...) as well as for the patient to use for reading without the larger overhead (cieling lights) needing to be on, preventing bright lights in the patients eyes. Soiled linen, sharps containers, Medication bins and trash recepticles were also mounted on the hallway wall allowing restocking and pick up from the hall without disturbing the patient. All outgoing items were contained in the area below the counter height while all incoming items were available above counter height (about 36 inches). Trash containers in the room would be mounted on the wall and attached the the bedside table and could be emptied PRN by Nurse aids and nurses into the bulk containers along the hallway wall.

The bathroom facilities were enclosed by an accordian style wall that could be opened completely to allow easy access for wheelchairs, lifts and staff while assisting patients and closed to allow privacy to the patients that needed no help. A "Murphy bed" was installed in the wall to allow patient's caregiver (family) to stay overnight with reasonable comfort while allowing access to the patient by staff members. The shower or tub was accessible on three sides to allow access with wheeled shower chairs and lifts as needed as well as staff who are needed to assist patients.

The hospital I work at presently is adding an entire wing and so far as I have been able to find out has not taken any of the suggestiong made by staff nurses or anyone else who will actually be working the area. I have tried to talk to the contractors directly to suggest changes to no avail. It is sad to see $93,000,000 being spent on a project that could be soo much better and easier to work in. Thank you for the opportunity to vent.

Lynn Huff · Apr 15, 2007

I am in the process of designing inpatient rooms for maternity services. Here are some things I have thought about. Do you have other ideas?

Sink at entrance
Double door bathrooms - cascading shower with seat - no tub
Murphy beds for families
Two tv's - one for patient - one for family
Sofa/endtables with llights
microwave

navynurse06 · Apr 15, 2007

I don't know if its been posted (didn't read all of post ) but my suggestion is: private rooms for all!

I hate 2,3,and 4 bed rooms.

nurserangel_65 · May 7, 2007

I work in a fairly new unit. The desingers had stensils painted on the wall near the ceiling.

I have had more than one slightly confused patient halucinate with this as the primary stimulus.

It was a nice touch for those who are not confused, but in a surgical ICU most are confused. I would paint this.

tinytot · May 12, 2007

:idea: :) I agree to all what your have said.we also need rooms that are equiped with items to be used rather than the nurse going back and forth to get it

I worked at one hospital that had no overhead or celing lights. The only lights in the rooms were the lights over the pt bed. I was always having trouble with IV's and foleys in women due to lack of light. I had made numerous complaints and nothing done. To put in a foley we had one person shine a flashlight while someone put in the foley.
Also having electrical outlets in easy reach and having lots of them. Always a problem.
Also if the TV's are on swing arms get rid of them and put them on the celing. I worked in a facility where the tv's were on swing arms and I cannot tell you how many times I banged my head on them. I hit my head a few times so hard that I saw stars. Made things difficult to manuver in the rooms.
Wider doorways to the bathrooms. Wider doorways to pt rooms to make it easier to manuver beds in and out when transferring a pt to another room or test.
I think that the architects that designed hospitals had no idea what it is like to work in a hospital. They also have no idea how much equipment a single pt can have.

tinytot · May 12, 2007

I agree to your point of view and really like the idea about the storage supplies that you can use from the ceiling

AnnieOaklyRN, BSN, RN, EMT-P · May 12, 2007

I notice some hospital rooms do not have clocks... have to have a clock and maybe a calender.

Also it woudl be nice if the furniture could be stored in the wall.. you just pull it out when you need it.

Sweetooth

shellek · May 20, 2007

If you could do anything to inpatient rooms (excluding making them bigger ), what would you change? Think in terms of patient comfort, nurse convenience, ergonomics, furnishings, storage, etc.
What are your pet peeves about inpatient rooms?

I am currently working in city, state that has many specialized hospitals. To me it is some what unfair because the get all the insured paying realitivly healthy pt's where the uninsure really unstable sick patient are shipped over to county hosptials. however, the specialized hospitals are set up as private, all most hotel like rooms. It is amazing to me coming from east and west coast county hospitals. The even have menues the patients call on their own and order their food when they are hungery. Hospital stays are more expensive then vacations but they have done a good job in making their illness like a vaction atmosphere..?? Dr's and their entruprenuation I guess, I just wonder in the long term how the county hospitals will survive?

arpeggiated · May 21, 2007

Our hospital is planning to break ground on a new campus this summer. I was bored and made a little list of things I want to see in it.

-LOTS of pillows. I hate turning patients and having to use blankets to prop them up because we have no pillows.

-02 flowmeters, suction canisters, and suction controls in every room. I hate having to peek in all the rooms to find someone who's not using the flowmeter that is in there.

-The new hospital is going to be all private rooms, but they need to be big enough for the bed, table, nightstand, chairs, recliners, bi-pap, iv pole, wound vac, guests, commode, cpm, and anything else that could be in there and still let me walk by without having to hop skip and jump over everything.

-Pocket doors leading into the bathroom so they take up no space in the room.

-Lights everywhere. Some of our rooms now do this well, there are two recessed bulbs in the middle of the ceiling that can be controlled from bright to dim. Works well for inserting foleys, ng tubes, etc. or as a nightlight.

-Call light speaker away from the o2 and suction. When there's humidified o2 and suction going... you can't hear anything over the call light system. Would save my knees from getting up, walking down the hall, asking if they need something, and the patient saying it was an accident.