Bedrooms

1.1 High-Level Guidance:

• 1.1.1 Bedrooms should be adaptable and versatile, providing different levels of risk for different stroke survivors and different stages of the rehab journey (Performance standard)

• This can be demonstrated by . . . (Deemed to satisfy)

• 1.1.2 Stroke survivors should feel connection to outside world and be encouraged, in line with their abilities and tolerance for risk, to remain active and participate in incidental activity

• This can be demonstrated by minimising the distance from the bed to an outdoor space

• Incidental activities may include walking, sitting, standing, carrying, etc.

• 1.1.3 The bedroom should provide opportunities to engage in a positive and stimulating activities that match their desired level of risk, but this must be balanced with the need for quiet and rest

• 1.1.4 Privacy is important, but visual connection can help to reassure stroke survivors that they are being looked after and build confidence to take risks as part of their recovery

1.2 Prompts from the workshop series:

• 1.2.1 People have the right to fail (safely) within the support of a hospital setting. Bedrooms should provide choice for, and facilitate, both high risk and low risk activities

• 1.2.2 Different people have different tolerances for risk; this should be established in a partnership with stroke survivors and their rehabilitation team

• 1.2.3 Stroke survivors should have control over multi-sensory stimulation. A fun, exciting, varied, and interesting environment is important, but so is the opportunity to retreat and turn down their senses

• 1.2.4 Adapt program and building to the person, provide choice, access to distinct high and low risk zones, adaptable and flexible spaces that don’t feel transient

• 1.2.5 Access to ‘real world’ dangers and levels of difficulty is important. This can give stroke survivors graded exposure to these challenges before going home

• 1.2.6 Stroke survivors rights and autonomy must be respected. Privacy, freedom of movement and access are critical, but so is safety

2.1 High-Level Guidance:

• 2.1.1 In the bedroom, stroke survivors should feel personal control over the space and should be able to choose between spaces within the bedroom

• 2.1.2 Whether single or shared, every bedroom should include private space/s for stroke survivors to spend time with family and friends, allowing for intimacy.

• 2.1.3 Stroke survivors should feel that they are respected, and maintain dignity at all times, and that they have ownership over their space.

• 2.1.4 Stroke survivors need to be informed of what is available outside the bedroom. They should be provided with relevant and up to date information about what else there is to access in the building and outside the building so that they can make an informed choice about where to spend their time.

2.2 Prompts from the workshop series:

• 2.2.1 Stroke survivors should have control over and access to multisensory stimulation. A multisensory environment provides opportunity for individual creative expression, which can be empowering, but stroke survivors also need to have control over sensory intensity, the bedroom is their sanctuary

• Stroke survivors should be provided with choice within and between spaces; technology can allow for stroke survivors to have this control regardless of impairment

• Stroke survivors should have access to all necessary information about the their condition, the program, and the building as this enables independence and therefore activity.

• Stroke survivors and family should feel empowered and autonomous, like they own the space and that they are in control of it, that they can have privacy (visual and aural barriers), and that they have authority to change, rearrange and take ownership of the space.

• Stroke survivors should have freedom of movement and access both within their bedroom and beyond. There should be no ‘out of bounds’ areas and no permission needed to go places - if patients can access it they can be there.

High-Level Guidance:

• In the bedroom, stroke survivors should have the opportunity for communal/social interaction, as this can bring incidental activity and practice, but they should also feel personal control over the space and over their social and interpersonal experiences.

• The presence of other stroke survivors, or ability to connect with other stroke survivors in some way (in real life or via technology), can help to promote social interaction, a feeling of being supported by your peers, and learning about and sharing in other stroke survivors’ successes.

• Whether single or shared, every bedroom should allow for privacy, including private space/s to spend time with partners, family, and friends

• Privacy can help to promote social interaction with staff – which is an important form of incidental practice.

• Having other people around (other stroke survivors, visitors, or staff) can also help to improve safety, as can a visual connection with other people, e.g., sight lines between stroke survivors and staff.

Prompts from the workshop series:

• Stroke survivors need physical space to be with others (other stroke survivors, friends or family)

• Visitors are good for communication practice and sanity

• Peer support and buddy systems can also provide valuable social interaction

• Devices and technology can help with communication and interaction

• Formal and informal activities may help to facilitate socialisation

• Socialisation should be a choice. Some stroke survivors want less isolation, some don’t. The bedroom should cater for both.

• For some, the bedroom is a sanctuary/space to retreat from other people.

• Privacy includes both visual and auditory privacy

• Hospital boundaries typically disrupt social connections. Being cut off from the world can make the transition between hospital and home harder. Spaces that facilitate greater connection with caregivers can help bridge this gap.