Is there any advantage to making big fairly empty rooms?

[Son Of Mowgef]

I've been using mostly prefabs to make my hospital so far, but it's strange to me that you could probably fit twice as many beds in the wards (and other areas) than the prefab has. I see that the prefabs look good but are not particularly efficient.
So is there any real disadvantage to just jam packing the room full of beds with minimal decorations? OR squeezing as many items in as small a space as possible?

[LionelCG]

As long as the items in the room function (I think they highlight green when working / yellow when being blocked) there is no disadvantage of tydiing up the rooms. The only thing I saw when a room is too small is some minor graphical glitches, e. g. the animation for sitting down on the examination bed shows as a flipping somersault of the patient instead of sitting down.

The only advantage I can see with big rooms is the nicer looks. It has a couple of drawbacks as you not only consume more room but also patients need to travel further due to that.

One thing I would make bigger is the corridor wherever you place your pharmacy though. I tend to mark the corridor in front of the pharmacy as pharmacy too as the room available for visitors limits the number of visitors and you get those annoying popups that customers could not get served due to the pharmacy being too small. They tend to reserverve room in pharmacy the second they leave treatment no matter whether they are on the other end of the clinic and space would be available for them once they arrive.

[LionelCG]

Oh and some decorations are needed for the rating of your clinics but that is a totally different and complex story, so I wouldn´t advise getting rid of all decorations and optional items. Do your experiments to find out what works best for your playstyle.

[Sarsgamer]

Originally posted by LionelCG:

Oh and some decorations are needed for the rating of your clinics but that is a totally different and complex story, so I wouldn´t advise getting rid of all decorations and optional items. Do your experiments to find out what works best for your playstyle.

It seems pretty easy to improve "ugly environment" though. I just throw plants down, usually in corridors and if i missed some in like nurse on call doctor areas.

[Sarsgamer]

If you can fit whatever you need in a small area than that's likely better.

If you were to add beds to say an existing prefab make sure you also add more defibrillators and things like that though.

In one hospital i was running out of ICU bed space and kept extending one ICU room, but i don't think it was very efficient due to how far the entrance to the room was compared to farthest bed. Also I wasn't sure exactly what actually gets used per patient in case of a crash or something. Like if you only have one of some item but nurses or doctors need it for every patient that may make it not very efficient.

For regular wards and HDU's I made my own prefabs; pretty similar to the existing ones. I connected bathrooms for each bed so I stuck with the 4 beds. The 4 bathrooms in each corner gave me extra space to add more seating in that section since the bathroom is just a little 3x4 (or whatever) in each corner. i threw things in the center that I've seen recommended... I'm forgetting what they are called in game, the white board for differential diagnostics and mobile workstation (I think that's actually what they are called)... also included food and drinks from the cafeteria DLC.

Keeping them in bed and limiting how far they have to go to fulfill there needs is helpful as they won't get treated or diagnosed if they aren't in their bed. My last hospital I would see patients walking way too far for bathrooms sometimes which delayed their treatment or diagnosis quite a bit, this really killed some of my event times, hence why i added bathrooms to all wards and HDUs. Though probably don't need one for each bed like i did if you don't want to. The patients pathing is odd, they walk to the one across from them instead of the one right next to them anyway.

All the other offices and such i just use the game prefabs. For doctors offices i use the smallest ones. I'm not sure if there's a reason to use the larger ones other than aesthetics.

Nurse and on-call doctor stations; i don't find they offer enough desk space so i customize each one per department and place it somewhere centered. Sometimes more than one if the department gets big enough. I place the bare minimum in there. I don't add much 'optional" items as they have staff rooms for that or cafeterias. A few plants seems to do the job.

I've seen conflicting information on medical labs, like if all your lab techs are doing the same test and you only have one of that item then it delays them. Though I've seen others say the lab techs can and do use the item all at the same time.. I haven't paid enough attention to know which is true, but something to keep in mind. I stick with the large prefabs for lab tests as i don't want to "break" something. I'd assume the prefabs are designed for efficiency already.

Also, the visiting rooms, if you have that DLC. I stopped using those, they overfill quickly in my hospitals and i usually just put them wherever i can fit them other than a preset alloted space. I do use the gift shop prefab, but honestly it doesn't feel very efficient, i just don't care enough about it :)

[Sarsgamer]

Originally posted by LionelCG:

As long as the items in the room function (I think they highlight green when working / yellow when being blocked) there is no disadvantage of tydiing up the rooms. The only thing I saw when a room is too small is some minor graphical glitches, e. g. the animation for sitting down on the examination bed shows as a flipping somersault of the patient instead of sitting down.

The only advantage I can see with big rooms is the nicer looks. It has a couple of drawbacks as you not only consume more room but also patients need to travel further due to that.

One thing I would make bigger is the corridor wherever you place your pharmacy though. I tend to mark the corridor in front of the pharmacy as pharmacy too as the room available for visitors limits the number of visitors and you get those annoying popups that customers could not get served due to the pharmacy being too small. They tend to reserverve room in pharmacy the second they leave treatment no matter whether they are on the other end of the clinic and space would be available for them once they arrive.

The pharmacy isn't very efficient at all. The functionality alone. It gets bombarded at 9 am due to hospitalized patients leaving.

I use mods to increase insurance companies and thus more patients. My pharmacy is probably 5 times bigger than the prefab and something like 15+ staff during the day - it's always running critical lol. I've just accepted the fact that it's always going to run critical. It's an easy money maker though.

I actually hadn't noticed that they reserve space like that. They probably reserve the pharmacist too. They do that with receptionists - it's not first come first serve, it's first to be heading to the receptionist and if they have a broken leg or something it takes them longer than other patients. Not normally an issue though other than a short delay from what i've seen.

[bUrnIt]

Place the pharmacie in a corner so you have two corridors in case :-P
Or ground floor with corridor indoor and terrace outdoor.
Can we set Pharmacist to serve clinics patients only vis-versa hospitalized patients only?

The thing about personnel and patients movement: they will go to
** the "needs" STUFF **

To reduce long travel, make sure you have these close by each working stations and waiting rooms.

bigger space allows you to place mini restrooms and common rooms, ** the "needs" STUFF ** + decorations. you can place these anywhere (in call rooms for ex try place ** the "needs" STUFF ** there).

MEME a lost toilet in the middle of the reception, people WILL use it to fulfill their needs, if they are allowed to get there.

other than that, mix both prefabs and customs builds to FIT your "architectural and functional optimal hospital" needs.

** the "needs" STUFF **
=
Restrooms(WC,sink)
Water dispensers
Coffee&Snacks Distributors
TV+couch