Lifestyle

Five-star accommodations at the hospital

Posted December 14, 2008 10:00 pm

By Robert McCoppin Daily Herald Staff

Northwest Community Hospital's bathrooms will feature warm colors, artwork and sconces for a more spa-like ambiance. Courtesy of Northwest Community Hospital

In two months in the hospital, John Doherty has gone through a lot of roommates. Some were friendly. Some didn't say a word to him. One had to be restrained after going into convulsions.

Doherty, 72, and recuperating from a heart attack, was relieved to end up with a room to himself. And he welcomed news that Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, where he was being treated, is adding 200 private rooms.

"It's great," he said. "Because I'm alone, I can do what I want. If I want to sleep, I can sleep. Because it's quiet, you can watch TV, read or visit with your family."

The expansion at Northwest Community is part of an ongoing metamorphosis of Chicago medical centers. The goal is to transform hospitals from noisy, glaring, bleak settings into cozy, welcoming, hotel-like enclaves.

Rooms now come tricked out with flat-screen televisions with DVD players, stereo systems, large windows, finer finishes like wood paneling and noise-dampening ceilings, reading-light sconces, and curtains and pullout sleepers for visitors. At least one hospital is looking into providing room service.

The change has fueled a construction boom across the suburbs. This year, Provena St. Joseph Hospital in Elgin opened a new addition with 99 rooms, all private.

Sherman Hospital in Elgin will open an entirely new hospital next year, which will have 100 percent private rooms.

Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge and Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village are building new towers with all private rooms due to open next year, and Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville plans one for 2010.

Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheaton went all-private in 2006. Edward Hospital in Naperville led the way by converting to all private rooms in 1992, helping to turn the hospital's fortunes around by attracting new patients.

Hospitals cite health and financial incentives for making the switch, but the bottom line is they have to offer single rooms to compete for patients, who have come to expect it.

As Northwest Community President and CEO Bruce Crowther put it, most hotels would never put two healthy strangers together in a room, "So why is putting two sick people together OK?"

Keep it to yourself

It turns out, putting sick people in the same room can have serious drawbacks.

Hospitals have been prime sources for spreading infectious diseases like SARS, MRSA and tuberculosis, not to mention colds and flus from patients sharing bathrooms, TV remotes and breathing space with a roommate.

Patients with cancer, transplants and HIV have weak immune systems and are susceptible to infections, while those with respiratory infections like pneumonia are infectious, and often need to be isolated.

Such restrictions, along with keeping men and women apart, mean that unless a hospital can match patients, double rooms often go with one bed empty, contributing to inefficient occupancy rates that often average less than 70 percent.

It costs more to build a separate room for each patient, and hospitals charge more for private rooms. At Northwestern Community, for instance, a shared room costs $1,265 per night, while a single room runs $1,480.

Some insurers won't pay extra for a private room. Others, like Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois, generally pay a flate rate per day for hospital bed, and leave it up to the hospital to allocate where each patient stays, spokeswoman Mary Ann Schultz said. Hospitals will have to negotiate rates, but Crowther believes insurers will see that by paying extra for a night's stay, they'll save money in the long run.

That's because studies show having one patient per room has the following benefits:

• Fewer infections due to less exposure to other patients' germs.

• Fewer falls thanks to the larger, less-cluttered space and presence of family members.

• Reduced number of medical errors because patients stay longer in one room.

• Shorter hospital stays due to all of the above.

According to the Joint Commission, which accredits health organizations nationwide, single-patient rooms have the greatest single design impact on patient safety. That's why the commission and the American Institute of Architecture both recommend that new hospital rooms be private.

Evolution in care

Hospitals started out as mass treatment centers, with field tents for those wounded in war.

As time went on, patient wards decreased in size from 32 to 16, four, two, and now one.

Much of the change is due to increased demand for health services and changes in how patients are treated.

Many present-day hospitals were built in a post-World War II expansion fueled by the baby boom and by the GI Bill for hospitals, the Hill-Burton Act of 1946, which provided funding to build hospitals.

By now, hospitals like Northwest Community and Lutheran General, which will soon celebrate their 50th anniversaries, are seeking to modernize.

Hospitals have had to adjust to advancements that make more clients outpatients, freeing up beds, while those who remain generally are sicker.

"Any hospital that doesn't make changes will probably be left behind," said AL Manshum, Lutheran General's vice president of facilities and construction.

Able to sleep

The effort also supports a movement toward care that is centered on the patient, rather than the doctor or staff. Delnor Medical Center in Geneva, which opened an all-private room addition this year, became the first hospital in Illinois designated by Planetree, a nonprofit group, as a patient-centered hospital.

It's also a more serene environment for workers, said chief nurse officer Lore Bogolin, who's glad to leave behind battles between roommates trying to drown out each other's TVs.

Erin Pheanis' room at Delnor was so nice, her father told her she should move in. The room, almost triple the size of the hospital's old rooms, seemed bigger than her apartment.

Having been in the hospital years before, the 27-year-old special education tutor remembered her old room as a cold, sterile, lablike environment.

This new room, with tan walls, blue curtains, a spacious new bathroom and private shower, and "gorgeous" dark-wood furniture, was "spalike."

"It's just very warm and comfortable," she said. "I was able to sleep."

Birthing rooms at Northwest Community Hospital will be much larger to make room for visitors and equipment in a spacious, comforting environment. Courtesy of Northwest Community Hospital

John Doherty of Des Plaines prefers a private bed over a shared room at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights. He says he can actually get some rest. The hospital's new private rooms will be more luxurious. Mark Black | Staff Photographer

Northwest Community Hospital's eight-story bed tower in Arlington Heights will feature 200 private rooms when it opens in 2010. Mark Black | Staff Photographer

Northwest Community Hospital built this room in a warehouse as a prototype for new private rooms to open next year. The design puts all bathrooms on the same side as the bed to minimize walking distance. Courtesy of Northwest Community Hospital

Advocate Lutheran General Hospital's new private rooms will feature flat-screen TVs, Internet access and a sleeper couch with a curtain for visitors. Courtesy of Advocate Lutheran General

What you might find A look at some of the amenities being tried by local hospitals • Instead of white walls, designer paint colors like celery or warm, spice brown • Sconces instead of harsh institutional lighting • Flat panel TV with DVD player instead of overhead TV tuned to hospital channels • Floors that look like hardwood rather than linoleum tile • Wi-Fi and laptop computers • Room service • A safe for personal belongings Source: Interviews

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