How Docs Are Redesigning Their Office for Patient Comfort

How comfortable your office chairs are and whether you have soothing artwork on the walls and ice water or coffee awaiting patients may be low on your priority list, but it shouldn’t be. 

After all, the way your office looks when patients walk through the door is a window into the soul of your practice and can make all the difference in how a patient experiences their time with you. Studies showing that there’s a connection between healthcare settings that prioritize patients and faster recovery times bear this out.

“Healthcare starts with how a space makes you feel,” said Jessica Horwitz, MPH, chief clinical officer at Tia, a women’s health clinic in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Scottsdale, Arizona. Patients enter a Tia waiting room to find a comfy space with pops of color, and once in an exam room, prepped with size-inclusive robes, a meditation loop plays on screens to help with anxiety. “If a space feels safe, comfortable, and more like a spa than a sterile space, it’s the first step to enabling someone to have a healthy experience.”

The Tia team thought through every detail, down to the cheery canary yellow tile in the clinic bathrooms, added Allie Ball, Tia’s vice president of brand and design. “We keep toying with the layout of our exam rooms,” she said. “We’re always thinking about how a patient will feel in that moment and make sure, for example, that a provider can reach a speculum and maintain eye contact, so the patient feels seen and heard.”

Ask Gbolahan Okubadejo, MD, a spinal and orthopedic surgeon with several offices in New York and New Jersey, and he’ll tell you that his priority is to make patients feel as at ease as possible.

“Everything from the lighting to the layout was chosen with comfort, dignity, and calm in mind,” he said. “The waiting room area is open and free of clutter, with soft, indirect lighting that avoids the harsh glare typical in many medical offices. It’s bright enough to feel clean and professional, but never clinical.”

The chairs, too, were deliberately selected to accommodate patients with spinal pain or limited mobility. “There’s no stiff seating or awkward arrangements,” he said. “We also made sure there’s enough space between each chair for walkers, braces, or those who simply need more room to shift comfortably.”

For Ryan S. Sultan, MD, a psychiatrist in New York City, making his office feel as nonclinical as possible is a top priority.

“When the office environment mimics a home environment, patients feel more comfortable and feel more inclined to open up,” he said, citing a qualitative study that found that patients with mental health conditions in poorly designed inpatient settings often experience a loss of dignity and identity. “It’s important for those of us who work in the mental health specialty to create trauma- and neurodivergent-informed spaces while being mindful of sensory sensitivity and avoiding clutter, strong lighting, or scents.”

Physicians who work at imaging centers should also consider improving the patient experience, said Jeb List, MD, a pediatric and adult interventional radiologist at MIC Imaging and Procedure Center in Omaha, Nebraska.

“We’ve all been in cold, rushed environments where you’re handed a paper gown and pointed to a crowded waiting room,” he said. “That wasn’t the experience we wanted for our patients.”

Instead, the physicians here asked themselves what they could do to make the clinic more comfortable — and more patient-focused.

“This meant offering easy parking just steps from the door, a warm and welcoming staff, and soft robes instead of paper gowns,” he said. “We’ve also created a space that’s quiet and calm, where the process is seamless from check-in to check-out. These touches aren’t just about aesthetics — they’re about respect. When patients feel seen, heard, and cared for, they’re more likely to follow through with their care, and they’re more at ease throughout the process.”

If it’s logistically possible, offering patients the option to sit in nature before their appointment is another interesting way to rethink the waiting room experience, said Annemarie Braun, MD, a gynecologist who practices in Germany.

“We encourage patients to wait outside near our rose bushes, where there’s always a bench and table,” she said, adding that she always has fresh flowers in her waiting room along with large olive trees that reach the ceiling. “I believe that creating an environment where patients feel calm, welcome, and gently removed from their everyday stressors is just as important as the therapy itself.”

And don’t forget how important music can be to calm even the most jittery patient, Okubadejo added.

“We keep music playing in the background at a low volume so it’s not distracting but offers just enough to ease the tension,” he said. “Instrumental or acoustic playlists set a calm tone without adding noise to an already stressful moment.”

In the end, making these office modifications doesn’t have to be costly and can keep patients coming back for years to come.

“For us, it was never about making the office look fancy,” Okubadejo said. “It was about eliminating unnecessary discomfort and making sure every patient feels safe, respected, and cared for starting the moment they walk through the door.”

Lambeth Hochwald is a New York City-based journalist who covers health, relationships, trends, and issues of importance to women. She’s also a longtime professor at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.