Investigating the Role of Future Hospitals in Health Promotion: Global Evidence and Experiences

Abstract

Context: The changing role of hospitals in the distant future and the urgent need for long-term and medium-term planning for necessary changes in the structure of hospitals are undeniable necessities. Objectives: The present study was conducted to examine global evidence in the field of future hospitals, emphasizing the pressing need for transformation. Materials: A scoping review was conducted using the Arksey and O’Malley framework in March 2024. Information was collected from PubMed, Scopus, Web of Knowledge, Embase, and Google Scholar search engines, without time limits, but limited to the English language. A manual search of several specialized journals related to the scope of the subject and a review of the list of sources of the finalized articles were conducted manually. The resulting information was analyzed and reported using the content analysis method. Results: From the 1817 articles extracted from the databases, 10 were finally included in the study after screening. About 40% of the final studies were descriptive. The global experiences and evidence of the final articles regarding future hospitals were examined, divided, and reported in four categories: Designing the physical space in future hospitals, training in the space of future hospitals, providing services in future hospitals, and technology and technologies in future hospitals. The challenges in implementing these initiatives and proposed solutions were also evaluated. Conclusions: Based on global experiences, policymakers will face challenges in implementing future hospitals, including challenges in information resources, financial resources, human resources, communication, and management. Strategies such as creating a committed attitude and accompanying managers with the project, using successful steering groups to facilitate and create opportunities for strategic communication to continue progress and movement, effective lobbying at the state level, and developing various national policies and guidelines are required.