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

Single Patient Room and Social Isolation
While single patient rooms provide a lot of opportunity for social support by offering privacy to a
patient and his/her family, oftentimes, patients may experience social isolation from spending a
great deal of time alone throughout the day. Some patients also report that they are attended to
less by staff, when they are placed in a single patient room. These complaints are most prevalent
in children’s hospitals, where children suffer the most from a lack of social interaction.
In a UK study done, surveying close to 150 hospitals
around the country on the topic of building 100% singlepatient
rooms within the hospital, researchers found what
administration found to be the top 4 main disadvantages
with this approach:
The four main disadvantages identified for 100 per
cent single room occupancy were:
• Lack of interaction with others.
• Difficulty for staff with observation and safeguarding.
• Feelings of isolation and anxiety when left alone in the
cubicle.
• Greater demands on workforce.
The four main disadvantages identified for 100
percent single room occupancy from a child’s point of
a view:
• There would always be someone to talk to.
• The possibility of making new friends and playing.
• More going on and more fun.
• Not being alone or lonely.
(Pediatric Nursing, 2010).
SOCIAL ISOLATION
DISSATISFACTION
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