Experiencing the Future Today

The patient room of the future is on display—and in use—at University Medical Center at Princeton, providing lessons that are likely to benefit hospitals and patients nationwide. Princeton HealthCare System (PHCS), which is building a new hospital in Plainsboro to replace the downtown Princeton facility, has created a fully functioning replica of the new hospital’s proposed patient room in the existing hospital. After more than a year of design and refinement, the Model Patient Room is now being put to the test with actual patients. They are helping to determine how the overall layout of a hospital room can improve patient safety, health outcomes and the efficient delivery of healthcare.

The answers will not only impact how rooms are built at the new hospital, University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro. They also could prompt a rethinking of hospital room design nationally. Funded by a $2.8 million research grant by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Model Patient Room initiative is part of The Pebble Project, a program of the national Center for Healthcare Design that promotes research on how the physical spaces of a hospital can contribute to patients’ healing and improved healthcare efficiency.

“This room is an interactive learning laboratory for testing, refining and discovering ideas that will benefit patients and improve the efficient delivery of healthcare, both for our hospital and potentially many others as well,” says Barry Rabner, President and CEO of Princeton HealthCare System.

Among the innovations being tested is a specially designed handrail that leads from bedside to bathroom and lights up when touched. This feature helps address issues raised by national studies finding patient falls in hospitals often occur during trips to the bathroom.

Video Tour of the Model Patient Room

Photos of the Model Patient Room