The new guidelines were issued by the Facility Guidelines Institute (FGI), which advises the government. The guidelines apply only to new construction on general medical and surgical wards; they don't affect specialty units like psychiatry or pediatrics. The FGI updates its recommendations every four years and includes government officials, doctors, and hospitals.

The new guidelines were developed because there is overwhelming evidence that patients who share rooms are more likely to develop nosocomial infections; that is, they may go into the hospital for an operation on their leg and wind up catching a nasty case of influenza from another patient, delaying their recovery. Patients who share hospital rooms are also more likely to be victims of medical errors. According to a highly regarded 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine, medical errors may account for as many as 98,000 deaths a year.

One point that wasn't really brought up in the article is that having to share a hospital room with a stranger can also be very stressful. While it's true that some people can become friends when they're forced to share a room together, other people may find themselves highly irritated by their roommates' behavior and visitors. There are also privacy issues to consider. It's hard for doctors to speak openly to their patients about their medical conditions if another patient is lying just a few feet away.

I haven't been a hospital patient since I was a baby, but I'm thinking that these new guidelines sound like a good idea

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