In an attempt to make hospital environments more comfortable, welcoming and ‘home-like’, the direction in patient room interior design over the past half decade has been to make the spaces more like a hotel room.

When do these attempts for a hospitality feel interfere with the important business of healing? Many advertisements for healthcare furniture feature rooms that have area rugs, satin bed covers, bolster pillows and not one sign of monitoring equipment, IV-pumps, oxygen manifolds, etc. Does trying to hide the realities of patient room equipment become detrimental to the work-flows of the medical professionals working with the patients in these environments?

Do patients and families want to be comforted by the exposure of equipment and technology in a room for heart patients and other critical admissions? I believe that patients and families want to be sure that the best, most modern care is being administered and are focusing on these elements over the sheet thread-counts and quality of artwork on the walls.

I don’t think a 24/7 concierge or hospital room service makes up for a nursing staff that’s not compassionate and too taxed to spend quality time with their patients. Interior design of healthcare spaces is a moot point if the care givers are not focused on customer service also.