Exploring the Relationships Between Patient Room Layout and Patient Satisfaction

This retrospective, exploratory study examined 8,366 patient responses to surveys on patient satisfaction and patient room spatial layout in a large academic teaching hospital consisting of 17 nursing units and 382 patient rooms. This study included four spatial measures: average distance to the nurse station, room handedness, location of bed, and location of first encounter-and explored their statistical associations with two types of patient satisfaction surveys (Hospital Consumer Assessment of the Healthcare Provider and Systems and third party). The study had two phases: a preliminary study of 3,751 patient respondents in a limited diagnosis-related group (DRG) over 5 years and a general study of 4,615 patient respondents with a broader range of DRG's over 2 different years from the preliminary study. Findings indicated statistically significant relationships between all four spatial layout measures and specific survey questions pertaining to perception of nursing, physician, individual care, and overall room environment. Results emphasize the importance of hospital design-and spatial layout in particular-on patient satisfaction.