Planning the Patient Room of the Future

The new University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro will encompass the latest evidence-based design concepts to enhance patient safety, comfort and outcomes. The design of the new UMCP will keep every aspect of patient care in mind, with the goal of forever changing the delivery of healthcare in our region. This includes designing patient rooms that are completely patient-centric. In the new University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro, the physical environment will take on a proactive role in helping the patient to heal.

The patient room will no longer be just a place to receive treatment. It will be a very special place that has its own role in the healing process. For better outcomes, patient rooms will be designed around patient safety.

Patients will retain control over their room environment. You will be able to adjust the room temperature, the lighting, the personal electronic equipment (i.e., telephone, television, radio, personal computer). The creature comforts will fortify your mental and emotional health, so crucial in the recovery process.

Every room will be a single patient room (important for infection control, as well as for mental health), with a sleeper sofa that pulls out so that visitors can spend the night. Gourmet meals will be made to order, with dietary needs accurately recorded on the patient's computerized profile; meals will be delivered whenever the patient or visitors want to eat. The rooms with large picture windows will overlook the pastoral open spaces that hug the Millstone River. The air in the room and in the entire hospital will be 100 percent fresh air, thus dramatically reducing the spread of infectious disease.

The wireless technology of the digital, paperless University Medical Center will be evident in each room and will allow for such treatment improvements as touch-screen computer monitors at each bed that enable the medical staff to consult electronic health records from anywhere within the hospital (including the bedside), or remotely from office or home. The wireless hookups will enable some non-medical, but emotionally significant procedures, such as sharing photographs of a newborn baby with the other members of the family. Since moving patients from one room to another causes stress on the patient, the new hospital will feature only "variable acuity-adjusted" patient rooms, meaning that the equipment--not the patient--moves as health status changes.

For an online video tour of the model patient room, currently in use at the existing University Medical Center at Princeton's Witherspoon Street facility, click here .

Naming opportunities for patient rooms are available through the Design for Healing capital campaign. For more information, visit www.princetonhcs.org./designforhealing or call 609.497.4190.