BACKGROUND:
Evidence suggests that single-room inpatient wards are associated with better patient outcomes than open-room wards but little is known about the impact on adverse events, patient satisfaction, and clinician experiences.
METHODS/PURPOSE:
We evaluated the impact of a new inpatient single-room orthopaedic ward on patient and clinician outcomes using a medical record audit; patient, nurse, and medical doctor surveys; and nonparticipant observations in a tertiary hospital in Sydney, Australia.
RESULTS:
The audit (1,569 patients; 819 open-room ward and 750 new single-room ward) revealed unchanged adverse event rates and fewer emergency calls after the move to a single-room ward. Survey responses from nurses, medical doctors, and patients were positive. Observations suggested that clinicians devised solutions to potential threats to patient safety.
CONCLUSION:
The single-room ward design did not negatively impact on patient and clinician outcomes and was preferred by them. Clinicians organized their work to ensure patient safety.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.