en PMMT Comfort Room, The Empathic Room
The double room that puts the patient at the centre of the design
The PMMT Comfort Room revolutionises the double room model. With the position of the beds facing each other, it helps the benefits of the room for patients. The change in layout, compared to a conventional room, allows both people to have a direct view of the outside and access to natural light, while making communication between them easier. The separation of the room into two distinct areas, one for each occupant, promotes greater privacy between them and in the doctor-patient relationship, while optimising the movements of the professionals inside the room.
The PMMT Comfort Room significantly improves the experience of hospitalised patients. For this reason, PMMT Arquitectura has decided to release its plans in PDF and AUTOCAD format to promote its implementation in health centres and interdisciplinary collective intelligence.
Traditionally, the beds in a double inpatient room are oriented in the same direction with a curtain between them for privacy. This layout maximises the use of the medical gas installations, as the adjoining rooms are symmetrical attached to each other and each outlet supplies 4 bedheads. Generally, double rooms have a rectangular geometry and are equipped with a washbasin next to the door and a window on the opposite side.
This room model penalises the patient who is closer to the door, because when the curtain is drawn, he or she no longer has natural light or views to the outside. In addition, control over the curtain or television, which is unique to both patients, must be consensual. The design of this room model is not conducive to privacy and the relationship between the occupants, and in effect influencing their well-being. There are even scientific studies that show that being on one side or the other of the curtain can have a direct impact on patients’ health and the length of their stay in hospital.
The PMMT Comfort Room is a new double room model that aims to respond to the problems of the traditional model, thus improving the experience of patients, companions and medical staff. It also brings significant improvements in the management of hospitals and medical point of view, as it favours the recovery process, and consequently reduces hospitalisation time, helps to reduce medical errors, and gives the patient autonomy in managing their privacy.
By maintaining the main characteristics and geometry of the room, we can achieve an innovation project of high impact, high viability and easy implementation.
This room model is being studied and applied to the Nou Hospital Evangèlic project under the name of Comfort Room.
From the patient's point of view:
- Views to the outside and access to natural light.
- Control over the curtain and one's own space.
- Visual, auditory and olfactory privacy.
- Reduced risk of infection and spread of bacteria.
- Reduced trips to the toilet and corridor.
- Face-to-face interaction between patients.
- Individual television.
- Favouring the recovery process.
- Autonomy on decisions of the environment.
From the point of view of health workers:
- Increased working space.
- Reduced trolley travel.
- A view of the patient from the corridor.