Amanda Noth-Matchett, chief nursing officer for the adult academic health center at IU Health, says room design was planned with the goal to “support patient care for the next 100 years.” (IBJ photo/Chad Williams)
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Indiana University Health is making big changes, down to the smallest details, for the 864 patient rooms in the academic hospital system’s massive new downtown hospital.
Design features include everything from “soothing natural art” and a “family zone” for a more homelike environment to breakaway doors that allow care providers and their gear quick access to the patient in case of an emergency.
Many hospital rooms already include some of those features, but IU Health is also making functional design changes, including moving the bathroom away from the entryway to create more entry space.
IU Health leaders say building a hospital to replace the Indianapolis-based system’s aging Methodist and University hospitals provides a rare opportunity to rethink and update the heart of a hospital: patient rooms.
IU Health’s $4.3 billion downtown hospital complex, which will comprise 2.5 million square feet, is expected to open in late 2027. The 44-acre campus will span from 16th to 12th streets and from Capitol Avenue to Interstate 65—about eight square blocks.
The total number of beds, 864, is slightly higher than the combined total for Methodist and University hospitals. Some of those current hospital rooms are semi-private, meaning two patients might share a room.
In the new hospital, all rooms, each about 300 square feet, will be single-occupancy.
“This is our legacy,” said Amanda Noth-Matchett, chief nursing officer for the adult academic health center at IU Health. “How do we make sure that it’s as flexible as possible, so that it can support patient care for the next 100 years?”
Researchers at the University of Michigan found that hospital room design can have a significant impact on patient outcomes.
A study of 3,964 patients who underwent 13 high-risk surgical procedures such as colectomy, pancreatectomy and kidney transplant at the University of Michigan Hospital from 2016 to 2019 found that hospital room features, like distance from a nursing station, single-room occupancy and having a direct line of sight to clinicians, might impact clinical outcomes.
Access to natural light was also important. After adjusting for patient comorbidities and complexity of the procedure, mortality rates were found to be 20% higher if patients were admitted to a hospital room without a window, according to the study.
All current rooms at University and Methodist hospitals have windows, but rooms in the new facility will have more natural light and better views, IU Health said.
For its new hospital, IU Health researched modern design approaches to hospital rooms and sought input from more than 250 members of its clinical care team. Changes include everything from the shape of the hospital building to placement and color of bedside power outlets.
One huge theme is a mostly symmetrical and modular design for the main building’s patient towers.
IU Health also built vertically.
In fact, the 330-feet tall building is a noticeable presence on the Indianapolis skyline with a height only about 45 feet shorter than the 34-story JW Marriott Indianapolis.
James Mladucky, IU Health vice president of design and construction, said the hospital has fewer floors (16) than non-hospital buildings of similar height (the JW has 34) because of mechanical and electrical systems needed for health care stored within the ceiling.
All patient rooms will be housed in the top nine floors of the hospital’s three towers. Each floor has 32 rooms, most identical in design.
“The new trend for hospitals is going more vertical, not horizontal,” said Shireen Kanakri, associate professor of interior design and director of the Health Environmental Design Research Lab. “When we expand horizontally on the urban planning of any city, we are taking more land.”
IU Health said the vertical design also helps consolidate patients in a smaller area that puts them closer to all hospital services.
As for the patient rooms, big wooden doors are gone. And the bathroom has been moved from the entry of the room to the rear.
Rooms feature wide, sliding-glass doors so care providers can easily see a patient from their station or hallway, although the doors have vertical blinds for privacy for patients who don’t need as much observation. Moving the bathroom also allows a wider entry for medical teams moving equipment into the room.
Also, IU Health designed patient rooms to be “same-handed,” so that the headwall with the bed is always to a person’s left when entering the room. That means the caregiver approaches the right side of the patient’s body.
The idea is for caregivers to provide care and access equipment with the same movements. Often, hospitals are designed in a mirrored fashion so one room has the bed on the right side and the next room has it on the left.
“What we found in the same-handed is that it can reduce risks, and it can improve quality for patients, because you’re not having to try to remember and move things around,” Noth-Matchett said. “It’s always the same. So, to that muscle-memory point, you can really get into a rhythm.”
Other details include red power outlets that connect to emergency power sources. “We keep our highest-acuity equipment plugged into those red plugs, so that, should we lose power, there’s no interruption to patient monitoring or patient needs,” she said.
The rooms also have a family zone between the patient’s bed and the window, with a recliner and storage area.
Other changes target the well-being of caregivers, including designing “respite” or break areas away from the noise of the care area and giving caregivers access to natural light or, for nighttime staff, darkness for rest.
The long-used term nurse station is also being replaced by care-team station to reflect the multiple job categories in caring for patients, IU Health said.
Ball State’s Kanakri said having a purpose-designed family area in each room, including intensive care units, and having natural light were particularly important and reflected the trend of hospitals seeking to accommodate modern health care needs and equipment in a less institutional-feeling environment.
“They try to give the hotel look and experience,” she said, “so it’s not like that hospital [look] that you feel you are sick and you need to go to the hospital.”
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