Hospital patient room doors contribute to functionality

Doors throughout a medical center impact a floorplan’s ability to support both patient and providers. For instance, hospital patient room doors that meet minimum opening width requirements may not be able to accommodate patient bed movement and could strain providers moving patients, or large equipment, between rooms. Flexible opening solutions allow wider openings when wall and floor space are at a premium, optimizing the environment for providers.

Likewise, when doors and other openings maintain a high level of visual connection, it can support patients through improved wayfinding and offer more ways to connect with providers. It can also minimize a sense of isolation providers may feel when workstations are decentralized.  

Is there an expectation of privacy in a hospital room?

While visual connectivity remains a core component of several elements of modern health care design (from prospect-refuge to access to natural light), it is not the only quality to define an optimized health care environment. In addition to visual openness, privacy can also be central to a medical facility’s design, elevating positive patient experiences and outcomes and minimizing provider frustrations.

For patients, privacy doors to exam rooms can alleviate stress during procedures. They can also help support patient confidentiality by limiting sound transfer between rooms. For providers, having privacy when discussing sensitive information and conducting some procedures can ease tensions and lead to a more transparent patient-provider relationship—considerations that prompted Johns Hopkins and the Mayo Clinic to increase the percentage of private rooms to over 90 percent.

Designing privacy doors for patient rooms

When planning hospital patient room doors that balance visual connection with privacy, project teams have more options than before, especially when specifying full-lite commercial sliding glass doors. These options can include:

·       Decorative patterns etched into the glass

·       Switchable privacy glass

·       Integrated louvers

Each option offers distinct value to a project, depending on use and need. For instance, the design team behind Altru Health System’s new North Dakota facility used sliding glass doors with integrated louvers to prioritize connectivity and comfort. These doors allow occupants in each room to customize the ratio of visual connection and privacy to maintain a flexible and functional environment. Because the louvers are hermetically sealed between two pieces of impact-resistant glass, they minimize infection risk while also contributing to premium sound attenuation as well. Because adjacent windows also use these louvers, they create a cohesive aesthetic between openings.

Exceed expectations with integrated approach to design

Hospital patient room doors can be a crucial element for creating interiors that support patients and providers, but they are not the only one. Just as the windows in the Altru Health System project imply, health care interiors require multiple systems that work together to facilitate design flexibility. The challenge is knowing how these systems will harmonize with each other or not.

AD Systems, Unicel Architectural, Technical Glass Products and other Allegion brands take an integrated approach to design that helps streamline specifications by providing accurate knowledge of several interrelated architectural systems. This approach also supports end-users by making maintenance and replacement more efficient.

Contact AD Systems today to learn more about specifying flexible openings and other systems essential to the built environment.