Medical-Behavioral Room

Overview

Increasingly, hospitals are faced with caring for patients with medical conditions who may also have a diagnosed or undiagnosed mental health condition (comorbidities). Studies suggest that people diagnosed with a serious or chronic medical illness (e.g., cancer, cardiovascular disease, metabolic issues, inflammatory and neurological disorders) will often experience mental and behavioral health issues as well. Non-psychiatric healthcare environments such as medical-surgical patient rooms can be designed to support the needs of patients with mental health comorbidities.

Each organization will need to balance priorities and evaluate risk to establish an appropriate solution to meet specific care models, address anticipated patient acuity, and comply with regulatory performance standards. Evidence-based decisions for medical-behavioral rooms to address the prevalence and range of comorbidities should focus on a therapeutic design aesthetic that also supports safety and high quality medical care for all.

In these diagrams, strategies that are focused solely on safety are indicated as such with an S

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