title: Reconsidering the semiprivate inpatient room in u.s. Hospitals.
abstract: In the past 5 years, U. S. hospitals have virtually abandoned the semiprivate inpatient room. The inconclusiveness of recent research, however, indicates that this room type remains a potentially viable care delivery setting in both developed and developing countries for specific patient cohorts and care scenarios during hospitalization. Although the U.S. healthcare industry has embraced the all-private room hospital, does the semiprivate room have a place at all in the 21st-century American hospital? Literature on the subject, both for and against, is summarized. This is followed by a proposal for a case study prototype and its functional integration within a conventional medical/surgical unit in a U.S. hospital. The results suggest that a tempered reintroduction of semiprivatism affords opportunities for socialization, patient-family transactions and amenities, and staff effectiveness without compromising patient safety. Implications for environmental stewardship with respect to the carbon-neutral hospital of the 21st century are cited, as are priorities for further evidence-based design research on this issue.
authors.affiliation: Corresponding Author: Stephen Verderber, ArchD, RA, NCARB, School of Architecture, 141 Lee Hall, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-0503 (sverder@clemson.edu).
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Verderber
authors.forename: Lindsay G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Todd
mesh_terms: D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D010362:Patients' Rooms; D014481:United States