The Center For Health Design
Why does this study matter?
Spending the night in the hospital before a procedure, or testing can be stressful. These hospital stays are also costly for patients and for the healthcare organization. It is common in some countries for patients undergoing diagnostic testing to travel long distances and stay overnight in the hospital for these tests and procedures.
Recently, a hospital in the Netherlands began putting gastrointestinal (GI) patients up in a hotel instead of having them stay in the hospital. This appears to be the first study to look at the impact of the outpatient hotel experience on the patient experience.
How was the study done?
In this mixed methods study, patients who were referred for GI motility disorders stayed overnight at a patient hotel located across the street from the hospital where their testing would take place. This was a typical hotel room, with a private bathroom, no medical equipment, and no call button. So, patients had to be healthy enough to care for themselves to be eligible to stay in the hotel (although they were allowed to have one person stay with them).
Patients who stayed at least one night in the hotel were asked to complete a questionnaire on experience, satisfaction, and quality of care. This included 26 Likert-scale questions and 11 open-ended questions. Out of 46 patients who stayed in the outpatient hotel, 22 patients agreed to participate in the study, and 16 completed and returned the questionnaire.
The researchers examined data on the potential cost savings for the hospital as well, by calculating the difference between the average overnight hospital stay and the overnight stay at the hotel over the course of a year.
So what do we learn from the study?
So what did they find?
In terms of satisfaction with the quality of care, most patients (75%) rated satisfaction with quality of care as largely or absolutely satisfied, in terms of coordination, information, courtesy of nurses and staff, and privacy. 94% were largely to absolutely satisfied with written information, scheduling, and diagnostic workup.
In terms of satisfaction with the hotel, participants described the hotel as friendly, respectful, hospitable, and appropriate in terms of privacy. Roughly 90% rated the reception and stay at the hotel as absolutely satisfactory. On a scale of 1 to 10 regarding the hotel stay, the average score was 8.3. And 9 out of 10 respondents indicated that they would choose to stay in a hotel again, given the choice between a hotel and the hospital. Patients commented that the hotel made them feel less like a patient and that they slept better than they would have in the hospital.
In terms of cost, after evaluating the data from 79 patients who stayed an average of two nights in the hotel, the researchers also found a potential cost savings for the hospital, roughly equivalent to between 46K and 72K USD per year.
Can we say the results are definitive?
This study had a small sample size at one hospital in the Netherlands. The methods were well thought out, but this was the first time using this questionnaire and it was not tested for validity or reliability.
I’m sure we would all be curious to see how this model works in the United States or in other countries, and how this would impact costs, and of course how this might work considering different payment models and insurance coverage.
What’s the takeaway?
For anyone who has spent the night in the hospital, you know how difficult it can be to sleep, especially with frequent disruptions from beeping machines and corridor lights. Prior research shows how stress related to these disruptions and lack of sleep can increase blood pressure and heart rate, which have been linked to negative health outcomes.
When generally healthy patients can spend the night in outpatient hotels, their outpatient stay is more comfortable, and the overall perceptions around quality of care may be more positive. Some of you may remember the Motel 6 commercials and Tom Bodet promising to leave the light on for you?
Well maybe we need to consider an option for patients where they don’t have to worry about the lights being left on, so they can get a good night’s rest.
Interested in the topic? Visit The Center for Health Design Knowledge Repository for more.
Summary of:
Masclee, G. M. C., Masclee, A. A. M., Kruimel, J. W., Conchillo, J. M., van Vliet, J., & Keszthelyi, D. (2022). Using a patient hotel: Perceptions of the quality of care by patients undergoing analysis for gastrointestinal motility disorders in the Netherlands. Journal of Patient Experience, 9. https://doi.org/10.1177/23743735221089453
Our slidecasts are an outcome of the popular Research Matters presentations at the annual Healthcare Design Expo & Conference. Our research team picks papers that have some significance to the healthcare design community and distill the study down into a 5-minute summary of how the study was done, what was learned, the limitations and the takeaway. The slidecasts bring research to you in digestible format. Just five minutes, and you’ll know more.
As a part of The Center's research team, Melissa focuses her efforts on grant-funded research initiatives, as well as supporting ongoing work of The Center, such as the Affiliate+ program, the Knowledge Repository, and the Evidence Based Design Accreditation and Certification (EDAC) program. She examines the impact of the built environment on health through the development of conceptual models that link design and outcomes and by evaluating the effects of evidence-based design innovations and by disseminating research findings through tools, presentations, and publications.
Melissa was previously a senior design researcher for Davis Partnership Architects and prior to that she served as a researcher with the OMNI Institute and the Center for Children, Youth & Environments at the University of Colorado. With a background in both architecture and social science, Melissa describes her research style as “boots on the ground with a knack for rigor.”
Melissa graduated from Cornell University with a Masters of Science, Applied Research in Environmental Psychology and received her Bachelors of Environmental Design, Emphasis in Architecture from University of Colorado, Boulder.