The Patient Room: what is the ideal solution? - Cornell University

Single Patient Room and Patient Satisfaction: environmental comfort
Multi-bed patient rooms are reported to have higher noise levels due to the multiple occupancy within one
room, which results in more frequent consultations, visitors, and patient communication with other patients or staff
members. This could potentially cause problems for patients attempting to sleep or rest, which could ultimately affect
the rate of recovery and length of stay at a hospital.
•Patients report higher satisfaction with a hospital stay when noise levels are reduced and temperatures are not too
cold, causing great discomfort.
• Excess noise in a patient room, can cause a patient’s stress levels to rise and their recovery rate to slow because
noise elevates psychological and physiological stress in patients due to anxiety and annoyance (Ulrich, 2008).
• Elevated stress levels in patients can heighten heart rate and blood pressure levels, which can be detrimental to a
patient’s recovery
•Too much noise raises the risk of medical errors because staff can’t hear instructions
Press Ganey Report, 2003:
“Data from 2.1 million patients in
1,463 facilities showed that
satisfaction with noise levels was
on average 11.2% higher for
patients in single-bed rooms than for
those in multi-bed rooms; this pattern
held across all patient categories and
for different ages, genders, and facility
sizes and types.”
(Press Ganey, 2003).
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