THE ROOM OF
THE FUTURE TWO INNOVATIVE ICU ROOMS SIGNAL A NEW ERA FOR CARE AND CONNECTION BY DAVE SCHEIBER
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It is a bold, boundary-pushing symbol of Tampa General Hospital’s master facility plan: a unique intensive care unit room with a window onto the next generation of care. This room is far more than four walls to house seriously ailing patients. In fact, it is an innovation that holds a new vision—created to behave more like a team member than anything else. Equipped for a wide range of key, nonclinical tasks, it allows nurses and other clinicians to fully focus on the essence of their craft: helping patients. And the name perfectly conveys its boundless potential: the room of the future. The new entity—currently in use in two modernized, high-tech rooms—exists within TGH’s revamped intensive care unit (ICU) launched in June 2021. The $17.5 million project includes 34 state-of-the-art ICU rooms encompassing some 27,500 square feet. With 100 more ICU beds on the horizon, TGH has plans to incorporate more rooms of the future going forward. The cutting-edge concept arose from the crosscurrents of competing health care headwinds, explained Jason Swoboda, TGH’s director of innovation. “One headwind is a shift in patient satisfaction and in coming to view patients as consumers,” he said. “You can easily look up clinician and hospital scores today, so there’s a constant focus on improving outcomes. This headwind is in the form of shaping the health care environment.” Another is connected to team member satisfaction and the nationwide shortage of nurses and clinicians. During the conceptual process, there was an opportunity, Swoboda explained, to support them in their passion—caring for patients—rather than being bogged down in extraneous tasks that could be handled by technology. A third headwind is the rising cost of health care in general. “We wanted to do something to improve quality outcomes, improve patient satisfaction, and help our team members, all while lowering the
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