From shared beds in overcrowded wards to well-equipped, individual rooms in state-of-the-art facilities, acute-care settings in the United States have come a long way since the country’s first hospital opened its doors in 1751.
Now, nearly 300 years later, we’re entering the most exciting and innovative chapter yet: the hospital of the future.
In this article, we explore what a hospital of the future is, examples of futuristic hospital rooms, and detail how today’s most pressing healthcare challenges can be solved through smart hospital rooms and related technologies.
No longer a far-off, high-level concept, the hospital of the future is a connected, innovative environment that drives better patient-centric experiences and outcomes through technology like artificial intelligence (AI), spatial intelligence, machine learning (ML), and generative AI (GenAI).
Hospitals of the future strategically integrate cutting-edge solutions in and out of patient rooms to foster higher-quality care delivery while meeting the modern-day expectations of staff, patients, caregivers, and loved ones. Health systems can proactively mitigate prevalent industry challenges such as nursing shortages, scheduling bottlenecks, and capacity constraints by taking this future-focused approach.
While anything from workflow automation and decision-making to diagnostic testing and remote patient monitoring are considered elements of a hospital of the future, this article focuses on the innovation and impact specifically within patient rooms.
Futuristic hospital rooms connect different aspects of care within a patient’s room for a more streamlined experience. Here are a few of the more common use cases currently deployed in health systems throughout the United States:
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Establishing smart hospital rooms and implementing comprehensive, patient-centric systems like those described above can help hospitals overcome some of today’s most pressing challenges in healthcare.
The staffing shortage is potentially the most impactful challenge facing hospitals today — and it’s not likely to improve anytime soon. The National Center for Health Workforce Analysis (NCHWA) projects that the U.S. will face a shortage of over 200,000 registered nurses and more than 187,000 physicians by 2037. While not a complete solution for this growing crisis, futuristic hospital rooms can help bridge the staffing gap without sacrificing the patient experience or quality of care.
For example, patients can interact with in-room, GenAI-powered assistants for basic needs like ordering food, requesting an extra blanket, and turning off the lights. When nurses aren’t required for these smaller “housekeeping” type requests, it frees their time to focus on delivering high-quality patient care.
Fall-prevention is another exciting use-case for smart hospital rooms. Rather than rely on traditional bed alarms, in-room sitters, or even virtual video monitoring to prevent patient falls, advanced technology can predict a fall before it happens using spatial artificial intelligence rather than cameras. With up to 85% reduction in falls and 96% reduction in falls with injury, this approach isn’t just effective, it also protects patient privacy.
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While still relatively rare, “never” events — or serious, preventable medical errors that should never occur — happen about 4,000 times each year, with a significant portion being fatal. Although not an excuse, many never-events in the U.S. are a result of staff shortages and burnout.
Patient falls in healthcare facilities are, unfortunately, one of the most common never events, particularly as staffing shortages persist across the industry. Extraneous injuries incurred during a fall often lead to additional complications for the patient that can potentially be fatal. Proactive fall-prevention solutions like VSTAlert help prevent patient injuries and other never-events from occurring, leading to greater patient safety, better care, and improved operational outcomes.
Beyond potentially losing a patient, hospitals that experience never events often face steep legal fees and fines, lawsuits, and reputational damage that can be difficult to restore. Implementing smart technology within patient rooms can help mitigate this unsettling challenge, as more AI-powered solutions focus on improving patient safety.
In its 2024 State of Nursing survey, Nurse.org found that 57% of nurses experienced feelings of burnout in 2023. Despite dropping substantially from 81% in 2022, more than half of nurses feel burnt out in their current roles.
In hospital settings especially, “alarm fatigue” can exasperate feelings of burnout and lead to potentially costly mistakes on the floor. 72 percent to 99% of hospital alarms are non-actionable, or false, leading some nurses to delay response times or ignore what could be a real call for help from patients. For example, standard bed-alarm device detection accuracy can be as low as 15%, meaning that 85% of alarms are false and do not require nurse intervention.
Coupled with staffing shortages, alarm fatigue can easily lead to unintended errors and increase the likelihood of a never event. In a hospital room of the future, on the other hand, smart fall-prevention technology like VSTAlert detects falls before they happen 99% more accurately than pressure pads. When the accuracy of alarms increases, the volume of false alarms and resulting alarm fatigue decrease.
Related Read: Stop the Nursing Burnout Cycle with AI Fall Prevention
Hospitals face the dual challenge of operating as efficient businesses while delivering exceptional patient care and outcomes. Striking this balance is difficult but made easier with solutions that streamline workflows without compromising the human element of care.
VSTOne and VSTAlert are built to empower healthcare teams to enhance patient care while optimizing operational efficiency. VSTOne’s integrated platform centralizes patient information and streamlines communication, reducing time spent on administrative tasks so clinicians can focus on providing high-quality patient care. Meanwhile, VSTAlert offers real-time notifications for critical changes in patient status, enabling quicker interventions and better outcomes.
These systems prioritize efficiency in ways that support, rather than replace, the healthcare workforce. By automating repetitive tasks and providing actionable insights, VSTOne and VSTAlert reduce burnout and improve staff satisfaction, making teams more effective without reducing headcount. These tools demonstrate that efficiency and quality care can go hand in hand, ensuring better outcomes for both patients and providers.
People today expect seamless, immediate, and personalized experiences in all aspects of their day-to-day lives. This is also true of hospital patients and their expectations when receiving care. These evolving expectations require healthcare facilities to rethink the patient experience, making it more interactive, efficient, and patient-centered.
Smart hospital room technologies like VSTOne are designed to meet these demands head-on. VSTOne enables instant responses to patient requests, from answering questions about their care to coordinating timely delivery of needed items or services. By streamlining communication between patients, families, and care teams, all questions get answered and all needs get met. This level of responsiveness improves patient satisfaction while building trust and confidence in the care process. Hospitals that are able to align operations with these modern expectations are better poised for success in both the short- and long-term.
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The hospital room of the future is here, and health systems that implement these connected technologies experience increased patient satisfaction, a reduction in staff burnout and never-events, and are able to navigate clinician shortages more successfully. From streamlining communication and enabling faster interventions to meeting the rising expectations of patients and their families, solutions like VSTOne and VSTAlert help improve care in ways that benefit everyone.
A safe, efficient, and responsive acute-care environment is within reach. Together, we can create a smarter, safer, and more patient-focused healthcare experience. Explore how VirtuSense solutions can make a difference in your facility by requesting a personalized demo.