How a Shanghai Tertiary Hospital Built a 40-Bed International Ward

A Shanghai tertiary hospital converted two floors into a 40-bed international ward over eighteen months. The redesign separated registration, imaging and pharmacy into a single patient loop to reduce walking and waiting for patients who do not speak Chinese. Staffing combines specialist physicians with a permanent team of multilingual coordinators. Every patient receives a written care plan in English or Russian at admission. The ward now runs at high occupancy and reports shorter average stays than the general floors, mainly because pre-authorisation and scheduling are handled before arrival.