Second Day Delivery on a Modular Patient Room

Home / Hospital Design / Second Day Delivery on a Modular Patient Room

02/01/2019

If you like this post, please share:

If you liked this post, please share:

Did you know that you can buy a modular patient room on Amazon?

Yep, for only $284,999, plus $4.49 shipping, you can have a MedModular patient room delivered to your doorstep.

How can they ship those things for $4.49? That must be a typo. And I just made that second-day delivery stuff up.

But seriously, manufactured by EIRHealthcare, the MedModular patient room comes fully wired, with features like:

Hands-free operation of doors, faucets, and sinks
Visual displays and monitors
Patient engagement portal

The company also states several times on its website that rooms can be customized to individual hospital needs, which can "elevate the patient experience to another level." That's good because the basic room itself is very cold and impersonal.

Modular Construction Has a Place in Healthcare

Don't get me wrong, I think modular construction and design has a place in healthcare. It's a cost-effective way to build a building.

But I don't think you can elevate the patient experience to another level without customization of the MedModular plug-and-play patient room.

And I'm not sure what EIRHealthcare is trying to achieve by listing it on Amazon. There's no information about what type of custom features you get for $284,999.

And what healthcare or design professional would buy a product like this on Amazon anyway?

But here's something strange. From one of the Amazon customer reviews, it appears that a wealthy person with servants bought a MedModular patient room for his home.

That's taking home healthcare to a whole new level.

Remember the Sears Catalog Home?

I don't think we're very far off from people buying modular homes or other types of residential structures on Amazon. It's the 21st Century version of the Sears Catalog Home -- a kit house you could buy from 1908-1940 that came with modern technologies like heating, electricity, and plumbing.

In fact, Amazon's Alexa Fund recently invested in Plant Prefab, a modular homebuilder in California. This strategic move is based on the idea of integrating all the smart home technology offered by Amazon into these homes.

Bill Thomas's tiny modular Minka home, which costs about $75,000 to build, could also be sold on Amazon, couldn't it?

But I don't think that those planning and designing hospitals and other healthcare facilities will buy such complex structures as patient rooms on Amazon. This all just may be a publicity stunt by EIRHealthcare to get people talking about modular patient rooms.

If that's the case, would you trust them with your business?

P.S. Please do me a favor -- if you liked this post and like this blog, please share it with others by sending them the link or posting it on your Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook. Also, don't forget to subscribe, so you'll get emails when new content is posted. Thanks!

Publishing Partner

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Jaynelle Stichler

6 years ago

Hey, a great idea for emergency issues, war time, epidemics, rural/isolated hospitals, third world countries, and all of the above. Why not. Love the delivery by Amazon! I wonder if drones will be involved in the delivery?.

Jane Carthey

6 years ago

I can see a purpose for this kind of approach in remote and rural parts of countries including Austalian. But I wonder about the bits in between that link these rooms with all the other functions required? Are they modular and deliverable as well? Who decides the layout for all that? And how does it all get transported to the rural, remote, wartorn countries as Jaynelle says - drones?
And ... how about the staff? Robots perhaps?

Mark L VanderKlipp

6 years ago

Seems to me that this standalone artifact would require lots of ancillary services (power, for one, also internet access, etc.) which would limit its usefulness in disasters and other areas. Another amenity for the 1 percenters.

Daniel Miesle

6 years ago

There are several US hospitals who have used modular patient rooms on major projects going back 10 + years. Of course they didn't order via amazon and learned some very, very difficult lessons in the process, including the importance of protecting piping. One are however that hospitals should seriously consider is modular Operating Rooms. here are actually not pre-built rooms but rather modular panel systems for walls and ceilings. I know of 3 manufacturers in Europe who make outstanding rooms. There are major benefits including significant time savings and clean construction (minimal dust) in the most dust festive are of construction. I noted at HCD 19 at least one vendor venturing into this but they have a long up hill to catch up with Europe.