THE SMART ROOM AND THE BURDEN TO BEAR AI has emerged in healthcare to balance provider workloads, enhance business efficiency, promote better patient experiences, and combat healthcare worker fatigue, burnout, and exodus. According to the National Library of Medicine, “AI optimizes operational efficiency, streamlines administrative tasks, and improves patient flow and scheduling.” 2 It also “enhances the accuracy and speed of image analysis in radiology and pathology.” 2 Critically, AI improves “patient care through remote monitoring, telemedicine, and virtual assistance, fundamentally altering the patient-doctor interaction paradigm.” 2 Enter the smart room. Smart rooms are gaining popularity, with many healthcare systems adopting them. For patients, these rooms offer personalized control (i.e., lighting, digital content, temperature, window shade, audio, bedside
tablets) and enhanced engagement (i.e., digital whiteboards, plan of care displays, RTLS integration). These features contribute to better patient experience and shorter stays. For providers such as nurses, assistants, and physicians, smart rooms offer numerous timesaving and stress-reducing enhancements: automated documentation and transcription (i.e., AI-powered microphones, automated EMR updates), enhanced monitoring and safety (i.e., continuous patient monitoring, fall detection, alarm fatigue reduction, hand hygiene monitoring), and streamlined communication/workflow (i.e., real-time staff communication, digital doorway signage, asset tracking, optimized workflows). Intelligent beds, telemedicine, and virtual assistance are all smart room components that leverage technology which, in turn, runs on physical infrastructure (Figure 3).
Cleveland's university hospitals are adopting smart rooms, increasing their technology footprint to incorporate virtual nurses, high-resolution cameras, and AI to address specific challenges in their healthcare system. Other U.S. healthcare systems, including OhioHealth, Valley Health System, Nebraska Medicine, and Houston Methodist, are also deploying similar technologies. 3 Houston Methodist opened a fully “smart hospital” in early 2025. This facility leverages AI to optimize its human workforce for better patient outcomes and more efficient care. An interview with Becker's Hospital Review noted that one key AI implementation in post anesthesia care units (PACUs) "led to an
additional 1,510 cases, or 15 percent more business.” 4 This is significant for tight healthcare operating budgets. Dr. Roberta Schwartz, Houston Methodist’s Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer, stated that human-led scheduling was "more than 10 minutes inaccurate 60 percent of the time," 4 but with machines, "it is dead-on accurate.” 3 Dr. Schwarz also stated, “…we’re trying to do the same thing in patient rooms… so we don’t have to go into the room between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. We are trying to get back to what we all know is needed: restfulness for our patients” 4 (Figure 4). The case for this technology is clear. The question is: How will Layer 1 keep up?
FIGURE 3 : Examples of connected smart hospital room technologies. Source: Research Gate
FIGURE 4 : A smart room at Houston Methodist Hospital. Source: Houston Methodist
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