Single-room maternity care: Systematic review and narrative synthesis.

Thirteen included studies were not controlled trials; most were before-after, cross-sectional comparative or descriptive, and quantitative study quality was generally weak. Ten studies were published before 2004 and eleven were from North America, so the evidence may not apply to current practice or other settings. Four studies were from the same Canadian hospital. This may limit generalizability and bias the satisfaction finding. Many outcomes were self-reported satisfaction or perceptions, and cost savings were mostly descriptive without statistical testing. The single-room model bundled room design, family-centred care, rooming-in, cross-trained nursing and staffing ratios, so the review cannot identify which component caused any difference. Searches were limited to English-language publications from 1985 to August 2018, so relevant studies may have been missed.

Do not conclude that single-room maternity care improves clinical outcomes or saves money because of the room itself. The review included no controlled studies, most quantitative studies were weak, and the model bundled room design, rooming-in, family-centred care, cross-trained nursing and staffing ratios, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated.