In redesigned room, hospital patients may feel better already

PLAINSBORO, N.J. - Can good design help heal the sick?

The University Medical Center of Princeton realized several years ago that it had outgrown its old home and needed a new one. So the management decided to design a mock patient room.

Medical staff members and patients were surveyed. Nurses and doctors spent months moving Post-it notes around a model room set up in the old hospital.

It was for a single patient, with a big foldout sofa for guests, a view outdoors, and a novel double-door lock box, like a hotel room safe, for drugs.

It also has a sink positioned in plain sight, so nurses and doctors will be sure to wash their hands, and patients can watch them do so.

A second sink is in the bathroom, which is located next to the bed, with a handrail linking bed and bathroom, so patients are less likely to fall.

Equipment was installed, possible situations rehearsed. Then real patients were moved in from the surgical unit - hip and knee replacements, mostly - to compare old and new rooms. After months of testing, patients in the model room rated food and nursing care higher than patients in the old rooms did, although the meals and care were the same.

But the real eye-opener was that patients also asked for 30 percent less pain medication.

Reduced pain has a cascade effect, hastening recovery and rehabilitation, leading to shorter stays and diminishing not just costs but also the risk of accidents and infections.

When the $523 million, 636,000-square-foot hospital opened in 2012, the model room became real.

So far, patient satisfaction ratings are in the 99th percentile, up from the 61st percentile, and the number of infections and accidents have never been lower.