The Hospital Roommate Is Almost Extinct

Imagine a room filled with sunlight, swanky furniture, a flat screen TV, your own private bed. On call assistance. Sounds like a spa, or an upscale hotel.

Except, it’s not. It’s a private room. In a hospital.

Gone are the huge patient wards. And now also going — shared rooms. Private rooms for all patients is the new trend in hospital care, especially among many of the top-tier hospitals in Massachusetts.

We take a closer look and wonder, when we lose a roommate, do we lose anything else?

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Guests:

• Rachel Zimmerman, co-host, WBUR’s CommonHealth blog
• Jeanette Clough, president and CEO, Mount Auburn Hospital

More:

• CommonHealth: Why Shared Hospital Rooms Are Becoming Obsolete