Improving the patient room : lessons from acuity adaptable room

A growing trend in healthcare is the notion of Acuity-Adaptable care /Universal Care patient room that is compelling hospitals to abandon the traditional approach to care where patients are transferred from unit to unit in search of the proper level of care with negative effects on healthcare quality. This paper reviews key design elements that support the success of an Acuity-Adaptable care /Universal care patient room, in particular, focusing on design solutions that attempt to adapt the patient room to the pathology level through the position of the ‘life support system’; balancing technological complexities with the human dimension; improving the organization of the staff’ work through the decentralization nurse stations.