As a doctor, I’m struck daily by how much better hospitals could be designed. Hospitals are among the most expensive facilities to build, with complex infrastructures, technologies, regulations and safety codes. But evidence suggests we’ve been building them all wrong — and that the deficiencies aren’t simply unaesthetic or inconvenient. All those design flaws may be killing us.

It’s no secret that hospital-acquired infections are an enormous contributor to illness and death, affecting up to 30 percent of intensive care unit patients. But housing patients together very likely exacerbates the problem. Research suggests that private rooms can reduce the risk of both airborne infections and those transmitted by touching contaminated surfaces. One study reported that transitioning from shared to private rooms decreased bacterial infections by half and reduced how long patients were hospitalized by 10 percent. Other work suggests that the increased cost of single-occupancy rooms is more than offset by the money saved because of fewer infections. Installing easier-to-clean surfaces, well-positioned sinks and high-quality air filters can further reduce infection rates.

Falls in the hospital are another major problem, leading to serious injuries, longer hospital stays and significant costs. Trying to navigate the unfamiliar space of a hospital room, often while disoriented by pain and medications, makes many patients susceptible to falling. A number of design factors contribute: poorly lit areas, slippery floors, toilets that are too high or too low. How quickly staff members can reach patients also makes a difference. For example, decentralized nursing stations that are closer to patient rooms and allow nurses direct lines of sight to beds can reduce the risk of falls and injuries.

There’s also much we can do to improve the patient experience, which, of course, is inextricably linked to how well patients rest and recover. Privacy remains a challenge in hospitals, despite laws like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a federal law known as Hipaa meant to protect patient privacy. As doctors, we’re taught not to talk about patients in elevators, yet we routinely discuss their sexual or drug history in rooms while a stranger on the other side of a curtain can hear every word. Research has found that almost all physicians breach confidentiality in this way, and that patients in curtained spaces are more likely to withhold parts of their medical history or refuse parts of the physical exam.

And then there’s the problem of noise. The average noise level in hospitals far exceeds guideline-based recommendations, making it hard for patients to sleep. Reducing exposure to noise — through earplugs, sound-absorbing acoustic panels, quieter staff conversations, and fewer unnecessary alarms — can improve the quality of patients’ sleep.