Surprised Not All Hospitals Have All Private Rooms

[Pea-n-Me]

It depends when the hospital was built in many cases. Older hospitals (and some are really old!) often had mainly semi-private rooms, with maybe a small number of private rooms. Newer hospital buildings are often being built with private rooms. It has less to do with privacy laws than it does with a move toward family-centered care.

 

[Minnesota!]

All private. The last time I can remember being in a hospital where people shared rooms was visiting my great grandma...and she died in 1985...

 

[tvguy]

Varies. My wife was in the hospital last year in a hospitial that opened in 1985 and they have all single rooms. They just opened a whole new addition 2 months ago and those are single rooms. My mom was in a hospital run by the same chain built in 1970 and it had all double rooms.

My brother was at a hospital built in 1974 and it had all single rooms, but when he was transferred to the same hospital chains hospital in the next town over, built in 2005, it has all double rooms.

 

[Tiffylv]

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[aprilgail]

I My Mom is in a large hospital in a large city and I was shocked the rooms are all 2-people to a room. Very small with two beds and all of the medical paraphernalia, and sharing a bathroom, only one chair per patient's visitor, and absolutely no privacy. We hear everything from the next bed, and what the patient and her doctor discuss, the nurses, etc. and they can hear everything concerning my Mom as well. Where's the "privacy?" Just seemed very strange to me.

Does your local hospital have all private rooms, or 2-person rooms too?

That's exactly how the hospitals are here, except one of the 2 near me has 3 to a room instead of just two. maternity also has 2 in each room- that was a tough one for me because I was rooming with a woman that was breastfeeding and they would wheel the baby into the room for her twice a night and each time she would nurse she would put the tv on and watch tv and turn the lights on which meant I was up then too. And then her husband would come in first thing in the morning and stay until visiting hours ended at night, he would play jazz music on a radio he brought with him so the baby would like jazz music when it grew up. It was a LONG 4 days!!
Another time I was in there I woke up during the night to go use the bathroom that you shared with your room mate and her husband was in the room with us, it was like 2am, I was very uncomfortable with that. The next day I asked at nurses station if that was the policy there and they said no and the next night he came in as visiting hours were ending and security came up to tell him he had to leave there was a screaming match but eventually he left!

 

[NewRVLady]

Wow April- that is terrible
I can't imagine sharing a room after delivery

 

[MataHari22]

Both at my hospital. I've had three surgeries there. All cancer related. The first surgery I had, for the first night, I was sort of in an ICU type thing, like for extra attention, and there were two of us in there. Then, I was transferred to a private room for the next three - four days or so that I was there. The second surgery, I had a private room. The third, I had another person.

 

[clori]

The two hospitals I had my kids in both only had private maternity rooms - one was a big city teaching hospital and the other a smaller local hospital. When my daughter had surgery for a broken arm along with minor complications she was in a children's hospital orthopedic unit which only offered double rooms - it would not have been that bad but it did interfere with sleep when dd got a new roommate at 1am.

The local hospital where my parents live I know day surgery and recovery is single rooms only. ER was private rooms only. I don't know what type of ward it was but when my father was admitted for hernia issues it was a double room but he was quickly moved to cardiac intensive care which only has private rooms. The step down unit had double rooms but since ccu wasn't full they let my father stay in the ccu unit side since the units were connected and shared a lot of staff. There was talk about rehab and one facility was double rooms and the other single only rooms but he didn't end up going. Maternity is single rooms only.

 

[Starwind]

I have worked in several hospitals here in Canada and four bedded rooms are comman especially on medical and surgical units. There are doubles and only a few privates. On the unit I am on now, the use the privates for isolation precautions or one to one patients. When I had my kids, I was able to get a private due to our insurance plus paying a top up. They were on a first come first serve bases. When my eldest, I spent the first day in a 4 bedded ward prior to be moved into a private. Most of the newer maternity units are going towards private now though.

Eta: l&d are obviously private but at some hospitals you are moved to a post partum room which is not always private. Now they are moving towards suites in which you give birth in and then stay here.

Likewise most of ours here are 3 or 4 bedded ward rooms, the cost of which is covered by one's provincial health insurance. It costs extra to have a semi-private (2 bed) or private room unless that type of room is medically necessary or you are placed in a non-ward room because there are no ward rooms available. The difference between the cost of a private or semi-private room and the cost of a standard ward room is currently CAD$220 per day for semi-private and CAD$260 per day for private (I believe that fee is set by the province). Many extended health insurance plans include a provision (sometimes for an extra cost) to provide a daily amount to at least partially cover the cost of the extra fee -- my extended health insurance provided by my employer would not quite cover the extra cost of a semi-private room. Of course, with the lack of space in hospitals, there is no guarantee you could get a semi-private or private room even if you are willing to pay the extra cost.

The birthing centre at our local hospital has only private rooms.

The local children's hospital does not have private rooms, but does have single rooms for isolation purposes. Otherwise rooms have 2 or 3 patients.

SW

 

[kmb584]

Peds, Labor/Delivery, and Mom/Baby rooms are the only private rooms here. However, a friend of mine recently had to share her mom and baby room after delivering her son because the number of births was greater than the number of rooms.

 

[aprilgail]

Wow April- that is terrible
I can't imagine sharing a room after delivery

Even worse when your baby is in NICU and you get to see your room mates baby there in the room with them.... it was not a fun time!

 

[HM]

I was a patient at our local hospital over 2 years ago, when I had a second blood clot develop (in my arm, first one was in my leg back in 2003 and went to my lungs) and our local hospital had recently built a new "patient tower" with all private rooms, they said it was because of the "privacy laws." Very nice rooms, with lots of room to maneuver, a small loveseat and recliner, private bathroom, etc. They could shut the door and it was totally quiet. Loved it.

I "assumed" all hospitals had to be that way now, but I guess not. My Mom is in a large hospital in a large city and I was shocked the rooms are all 2-people to a room. Very small with two beds and all of the medical paraphernalia, and sharing a bathroom, only one chair per patient's visitor, and absolutely no privacy. We hear everything from the next bed, and what the patient and her doctor discuss, the nurses, etc. and they can hear everything concerning my Mom as well. Where's the "privacy?" Just seemed very strange to me.

Does your local hospital have all private rooms, or 2-person rooms too?

My mom was just in the hospital for some testing. She shared a room on the cardiac unit with another woman and then another one after the first left.

 

[nkereina]

There's one hospital here that has all private rooms in every ward, except in the rehab area which incidentally is where you spend the most time. Another hospital has all private rooms in maternity only. And another hospital has private rooms in the ER only. The rest are all shared.

 

[TheIncredibles!]

Private for maternity but still shared in the general hospital. I was only in the hospital once for a non-maternity issue and it was a nightmare. Had to have my gallbladder out 6 weeks post partum with my first. I was in the ER for 7 hours in pain before a bed opened up in a room. They finally wheeled me to my room around midnight only to find the other occupants husband sleeping in the bed that was for me. He said since it was empty he was going to make himself at home. I then spent another hour just laying in the bed outside the hallway while they called housekeeping to clean the area again and remake the bed. I was by the window, his wife by the bathroom. He insisted on staying so they gave him a foldout chair/bed which he put at the foot of his wifes bed, completely blocking my access to the bathroom. When I woke him up so I could get to the bathroom at 3 am he was mad at me!

 

[lvillotta1]

I have been a nurse for 21 yrs. In the beginning of my career we had all double rooms. On our cancer floor they were all private. I think about 5yrs into my career all the rooms were all private. I live on Omaha,Ne and we have a huge medical center and a very nice Childrens hospital that are all private as well as all of our other hospitals. You should see the birthing suites. Better than staying at the GF at WDW.

 

[DizBelle]

How do multiple-occupancy rooms NOT violate privacy laws?

 

[Pakey]

I had brain surgery last year at Stanford which is an old hospital. While in ICU, I shared a room with 2 men and the beds were so close that I could have reached out and touched the man next to me. The other man was across from me (foot to foot) with just a narrow walkway between the ends of our beds. After 3 days in ICU, I was moved to a regular room that I shared with another woman. This room was also very tiny. I'd had a different surgery 4 years ago with a stay at a local hospital with large private rooms so Stanford was quite a surprise for me.

 

[Funfire240]

Wow April- that is terrible
I can't imagine sharing a room after delivery

I had to with DD, now 7. It was miserable. I didn't have DD in the room with me because I was so tired and just wanted sleep since I had been induced due to medical concerns and I was just plain wiped out. The lady next to me had family until later in the night (which was interesting for me with my IV and trying to pass them to go to the restroom which was on that side of the room!) She kept the tv on loud because "she needed it", and on top of it she had bronchitis so I was even more afraid to have DD in there because she was born 3 1/2 weeks early and I was worried about her lungs. Then to top it off when they took DD for pictures they brought her back dressed in the outfit the other lady brought for her child! It was not fun. DH tracked down anyone and everyone he could to complain to and I was finally moved to a private room for the rest of the day and my second night.

 

[NotUrsula]

I recently spent a month in the hospital, in a semi-private room with an insomniac who was addicted to the Hallmark channel. We both had the same condition. The poor lady was there twice as long as I was, and she was really a very nice person, but if I never see another rerun of the Waltons it will be too soon. Also, she had a friend who often came to visit who had to drive several hours to get there, and he had a tendency to fall asleep while he was there. The man snored incredibly loudly; people passing by in the hall could be heard saying "what on earth is that noise." He also had apnea, and sometimes I was able to count to 30 before he started breathing again. Honestly, I thought he was going to suffer a cardiac arrest right there.

Difficult as that was, it was much better than the first roommate I had, a schizophrenic older lady who had a serious heart condition. She screamed, threw things, and routinely bit every medical professional who came near her. After two days of that, my DH put on his attorney suit and went to bat for me with the charge nurse. Several hours later, a team of nurses showed up in the middle of the night and rolled me and my things out of there in about 5 minutes flat.

I imagine that in the US, HIPAA is going to cause semi-private rooms to be phased out sooner rather than later. It's rather a joke to tell physicians that they cannot even discuss matters anonymously in an elevator when you have a parade of them discussing every detail with someone else's visitors in the room, AND the patient's name posted on the door.

 

[indimom]

...discussing every detail with someone else's visitors in the room, AND the patient's name posted on the door.

WHAT?? Where are you? We're required to offer privacy to the patient when THEIR OWN guests are in the room. And there are no patient names posted ANYWHERE in public viewing...

I'm amazed how different HIPAA is treated in different hospitals.