By Healthcare Facilities Today

Jennifer Kovacs Silvis, managing editor of Healthcare Design magazine, recently blogged about a session from the 2013 Healthcare Design Conferencethat focused on research on the effects the patient room environment has on patients and staff, and how proportion plays a role in individual responses to a space.

Research was conducted where patients and staff were asked to compare physical rooms at actual facilities and a series of four different virtual room models. The virtual rooms ranged from 275 square feet to 400. The goal was to gauge perceptions based on how the rooms were zoned rather than on size alone, the blog said. 

While the virtual room options varied in size, the interiors are similar with a "hospitality vibe." Using open-ended questions about the spaces, the study tried to see if there was a one-size-fits-all solution. According to the blog, the virtual rooms were preferred to the existing spaces — patients wanted larger rooms while nurses looked more for access around the patient bed.

"But what’s interesting to note is that despite having a 400-square-foot option, the favorite was still the 350-square-foot room. And those surveyed responded favorably to aspects of the smaller rooms, too — and that’s where proportion comes into play. As the industry trends toward expanding patient rooms, it may be time to also consider the added cost to build and maintain those larger spaces, and potential alternatives," Silvis wrote

Read the blog.