Smart Patient Rooms and Smart Building Trends: Rapid Growth and Lessons Learned

A growing number of hospitals are striving to offer patients a “smart room” experience. In the past two years, nearly all new Hammes healthcare construction projects integrated smart patient room technology of some form, offering features that enhance patient care and streamline hospital operations. Based on our experience, we offer this overview of the ever-expanding possibilities of smart patient rooms and smart buildings, as well as five lessons learned related to these technologies.

What is a “Smart Room” and what is “Smart Technology”?

Amenities for Patients, Tools for Staff

Some of the most popular smart room features include bedside tablets for patients, which give them control of room lighting, window blinds, and room temperature. The patient can call a nurse, order food from the hospital menu, access a digital whiteboard detailing their schedule for the day, and stream shows on a large-format TV. Hospital staff wear radio-frequency identification (RFID) badges that communicate with a ceiling-mounted real-time location system (RTLS) device, so that each time a doctor or nurse enters a patient room, the patient can see their care providers’ photo, name, and job title on the room’s TV screen.

Smart room technologies can benefit busy doctors and nurses as well. In some facilities, digital door signs and color-coded lights are integrated with the electronic medical record to provide essential information to staff before they enter a room, such as the patient’s isolation status or the fact that they are a fall risk. The patient room’s digital whiteboard can display a message reminding staff members to wash or gel their hands.

Entry-level AI technology can also play a role in these rooms, aiding doctors by capturing dictated notes. Such information can also be used for trend analysis that enhances patient care, offering details about the medications that are prescribed most, or suggesting alternative medicines for patients with allergies.

Some patient rooms also include two-way audio and video access. This technology allows patients to make video calls to loved ones and may be used for telehealth or virtual nursing to augment on-site care. Remote nursing staff can manage tasks such as monitoring patients who are a fall risk, providing patient education before discharge, overseeing specialized wound care, and mentoring novice nurses.

The Smart Building

Many healthcare facilities also bring the smart experience outside of the patient room into other areas of the hospital. For example, RTLS devices can work with staff RFID badges throughout the facility, giving staff members access to relevant areas of the hospital and capturing real-time details about the location of staff members to optimize workflows. For some health systems with high security, the additional safety provided by RTLS to alert to staff in distress is an added benefit. In addition, patient tracking is also possible to identify and minimize delays in patient flows.

In the last 10 years, robotics have played a growing role in healthcare. Many hospital systems are successfully using robots to deliver pharmaceuticals and meals, to handle sterilization of OR instruments, and to move used and clean linens throughout the building.

Hospital hallways need surprisingly minor additions—including bump outs and reflective tape—to allow the robots to function. One of the primary challenges, however, in an existing structure is vertical distribution, given the complicated logistics of allowing robots in existing elevators with patients and staff members. Hospitals may need to identify their least-used elevator shaft to convert for robotics distribution.

5 Lessons from Existing “Smart” Projects

Based on our own experience and the trends we have observed at other “smart” healthcare facilities, we offer these five key lessons to ensure success in incorporating these technologies.

Lesson #1: Bring IT to the Table Early. We believe that the success of a new healthcare facility is directly correlated with its IT strategy. When IT doesn’t get the attention it needs early in the project, we see negative impacts to schedule and budget.

Given the technologies required for smart rooms and buildings, IT staff or consultants must be involved from the beginning of the design process. An increasing number of healthcare organizations appoint IT integrators to design, implement, and maintain hardware and software, ensuring that systems from multiple vendors work well together. These professionals can also weigh in on how new technologies will affect IT staffing needs. For example, a promising technology can be a burden if no one on staff has the time or knowledge to maintain it. In renovation projects, IT professionals can determine the space needed above ceilings or behind walls to accommodate IT infrastructure, including any cables or wireless access points needed for future technologies.

Lesson #2: Adopt New Technologies Thoughtfully. When planning a new facility, it’s tempting to embrace “shiny and new” technologies. We recommend proceeding strategically, choosing technologies that will enhance patient outcomes and work within your organization’s ability to adapt. Test new technologies prior to opening, preferably within your current environment. If a test run is not possible, or if you are designing for future technology that does not yet exist, build additional time into the project schedule to allow for testing and training.

Given the speed at which smart technologies evolve, it’s particularly important to review technology plans before construction teams complete the walls and ceilings in patient rooms.

Keeping plans flexible and holding regular reviews can prevent hospital leaders from cutting the ribbon on an already outdated facility.

Finally, you don’t have do everything all at once. Consider adopting a “Day 2” approach for future smart technologies or those that the organization might not yet be ready for.

Lesson #3: Prepare Your Team with Operational Readiness. Incorporating operational and clinical perspectives within your Planning, Design, and Construction team throughout the project can mitigate unexpected issues related to the operationalization of smart technologies. Operational readiness teams can ensure the development of staff workflows that integrate technology to enhance patient safety and reduce unnecessary workload.

Hospitals can encounter resistance from staff when technology is difficult to use, or when clinicians have not been involved in the selection or configuration process. For example, there may be concern among nurses and staff about potential surveillance through staff mobility devices that integrate with nurse call. Patient alarms must have escalations that complement the staffing plan within each unit. Operational readiness teams can coordinate technology education and appropriate phasing to maximize staff buy-in.

Lesson #4: Review Use Cases for Smart Rooms and Buildings. We encourage a use case process to carefully consider clinical workflows and the standards of care for each specialty or unit within the hospital. This allows everyone at the table to think deeply about the special needs for each unit. For example, the typical universal inpatient room has very different requirements than labor and delivery or a C-section prep and delivery room. We can use previous successful projects as a guide, but it is also important to understand your healthcare organization’s standards as well.

Lesson #5: Listen to Patients When Designing Smart Facilities. Some hospitals have installed registration kiosks in the lobby to speed patient check-in, with the goal of getting patients to their rooms faster. Yet in some communities, such innovations have been unpopular with patients who prefer human interaction. This scenario points to the need for a Patient Advisory Committee, which can offer a realistic view of what patients in the hospital’s catchment area want and expect from their hospital stay. For example, how familiar with technology is the typical patient? Can they operate the amenities available in a smart room? Do they expect these features, or would they prefer something else? Listening to such feedback ensures that a new or renovated facility meets the needs of the local community.

Managing such projects daily has shown us the value of careful planning, competent communication, and deep listening when incorporating smart room and smart building technology in healthcare facilities. These innovative technologies hold the possibility of streamlining hospital operations and enhancing patient care, particularly if they are implemented with the help of a knowledgeable team.