'Halo effect': room impacts patient perception of overall hospital experience

Private hospital rooms offer potential advantages over semiprivate rooms, but the impact of room type on patient experience across multiple dimensions of care remains understudied. A retrospective study was conducted to investigate how room type influenced patients' perception of their experience at Stanford Health Care, a large university medical centre in California, USA. Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey data from medicine patients discharged from January 2018 to January 2020 (n=891) was analysed. The percentage of top responses was calculated for 18 survey sections including overall assessment. Patients in private rooms were more likely to give a top response (aOR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.24 to 1.36), rating overall assessment and 10 other sections significantly higher than patients in semiprivate rooms. The greatest differences were in survey sections related to the room (room, hospital environment and visitors/family). However, private rooms also performed better on sections not directly related to room type (tests/treatments, care transitions and discharge). These widespread improvements suggest a 'halo effect', in which a patient's positive impression of their room may enhance their perception of overall care. These findings underscore the substantial influence of the care environment on patients' perceptions of their overall hospital experience.