The proliferation of diagnostic and treatment technologies has increased the size of the hospital from an average of 70 square meters per bed in the 1970s to upto a current average of 150 square meters per bed. The size ratio of Inpatient accommodations to diagnostic & treatment facilities has reversed from 65%:35% to 35%:65 %. As a result, the morphology of the whole hospital has changed.

The introduction of keyhole surgery has led the shift from hospitalization to day care. Anaesthetics and pharmaceutical advances have backed up this shift reducing the patient’s length of stay and increasing the hospital bed throughput. Although today’s hospitals are not smaller in size, they can treat a larger number of patients with an equal space.

Patient observation and monitoring is facilitated by telemetry signals. Post catheterization patients, for example, can now be monitored remotely in areas other than the ICUs & CCUs thus freeing these cost-intensive areas to the critically ill. Telemedicine has the potential to impact the structure of the healthcare system as a whole by linking remote community hospitals to referral centers for specialist consultation and diagnosis.

The digitization of X Ray images has revolutionized the workflow in both the radiology department and throughout the hospital. Image taking, viewing, reporting and transport require less time & space.

Not only the workflow of information has been digitized but also the flow of patients and materials throughout the hospital. Emergency patients, for example, can be tracked through the hospital system, from entry to discharge. The system monitors their location, drugs administered, images taken, materials consumed,etc at any step of their treatment process, thus reducing treatment time and increasing space and staff utilization. Medications are ordered by clinicians at patients’ bedsides, verified and processed instantaneously by pharmacists in the central pharmacy who then send authorization codes to Automated Medication Dispensing Units installed in nursing wards for nurses to dispense and administer the prescribed medications to the patient. All almost instantaneously and fully automated reducing staff time and minimizing medication errors.