Filling hospitals with art reduces patient stress, anxiety and pain
designweek.co.uk
designweek.co.uk
Don't get me wrong, I'm _very_ thankful for the fact I still have both my legs, but staying sane is extremely difficult.
Half of the bays on my ward literally had no windows. There were people around me that hadn't seen daylight in over a month. There wasn't any publicly accessible free WiFi, the TVs were costing over £40/week. There's no library, no social spaces and absolutely nothing to do. Even the staff are too busy to have a conversation with. You had two meals served 6 hours apart. It wasn't awful but certainly wasn't great. Even buying and eating a lot of my own food left me loosing a tonne of weight. And not a single accessible gym or swimming pool even close. Being able to get healthy and fit seems like a no-brainer.
Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of good, but I find it impossible to believe this isn't causing more problems and actually increasing recovery times costing them more money over-all.
I think the worst is the nightmarish greenish-yellow hue due to the combination of cheap fluorescent lighting and "neutral" (light green) furniture/wall colors. One step in there and you just know there's probably someone dying somewhere nearby. It sounds sensationalistic to say, but man I always feel this sense of dread immediately.
There are newer/nicer places that _don't_ create this feeling right away, and the difference for me is night and day. Even though all the same stuff happens, the atmosphere is so different and doesn't trigger this primal dread.
It's always been like this unfortunately. Nothing to do with smartphones.
Here's the NHS digital guidance about it.
Although one thing that always stood out is no one is expected to sleep in a hospital. A nurse or doctor will likely be in every few hours doing something to wake you up. And in between there will always be noise from the hall.
Modification or criticism of NHS seems like an off limits topic with UK residents, and it just seems like a weird topic to be off limits so I don't really understand
The difficulty is that "Americanisation" is this catch all term (Along with Neoliberalism etc.) that doesn't have a defined meaning, but is wide enough to beat any non-left wing solution into the ground. I don't think anyone actually wants the NHS to be more american, but most european healthcare systems have more in common with American one's than ours to some degree (Excluding universality, which it obviously lacks)
Imagine if the Orange Book was released now, with it's plans to introduce insurance to the NHS: I can picture the momentum activists screaming now.
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2014/0... for example (old poll but still usable) 22% of people say the NHS is the best healthcare system in the world when it clearly isn't when measured by various measures most notably cancer outcomes which are pretty bad compared to some countries https://academic.oup.com/bmb/article/110/1/5/278036
I do think that it needs to be open to criticism, though. There are issues in the NHS and I'm sure there are problems with the way that National Insurance works (our way of paying for the NHS). I have unfortunately had a lot of exposure to the NHS and the way some things work is frustrating. For example, I am unable to get an insulin pump to treat my Diabetes because there are national requirements that I do not meet. I undertstand why this is in place (budget cuts) but that doesn't stop it from being frustrating - I'd essentially have to sabotage my condition to the point where my control was so bad that I would qualify for a pump.
Like the other commenter said, I think what most people hear when people talk of reforming the NHS is an Americanisation of the NHS, and they believe this is inherently bad. Rightly or wrongly, that is the impression that people get. It's a shame because I think it shuts down all talk of reformation, despite the fact that there are other European countries which also have socialised healthcare but operate in different ways which I have heard are more efficient. I haven't done enough research into this to really provide any helpful comparisons, but if anyone has any information or links which explore the funding and service provision of other socialised health care provision in contrast with the UK, I'd love to have a read.
There are lots of modifications of the NHS that people would welcome.
The core features we want to keep are 1) free at the point of delivery 2) provided by NHS organisations (although even this is changing).
"The" NHS is incredibly complex and most people have very little idea about how it works which makes any discussion about it very difficult.
Very few people realise, for example, that there are very few healthcare systems in Europe organised like the NHS yet most deliver better results. However, "insurance" is a dirty word because it's associated with American Healthcare rather than continental Europe.
7 countries spend more than healthcare (% of GDP) than us, but 17 score better on the EHCI (Euro Health Consumer Index) and 17 have longer life expectancies.
It's also not viable politically (debate around the NHS, that is) because the Labour party is currently being run by it's socialist faction e.g. Some of Corbyn's lieutenants are proper marxists.
tl;dr it sounds like a religion because it is a religion to most
Please don't perpetuate the myth that sickness can be seen from the outside by a layperson.
I'm assuming GGP was not referring to physical therapy facilities however, some hospital inpatients do require that.
I spent 10 weeks as an inpatient on 6* daily IV antibiotics (which would have been impossible to do at home) to treat a serious infection in the bone in my foot. On some of my better days I managed to cover nearly 10 miles on crutches or in a wheelchair. Being able to use a gym to work out would have been better and substantially safer all round.
On the flipside, it's amazing how many doors one can get through using nothing but a lollypop-stick from the ice-cream machine in reception or a pair of crutches to open gates from the other side. And technically the "no public access" signs don't apply because you're not public, you're an in-patient at that point... but there has to be better ways of staying fit and sane that would apply to the other 99.9% of patients.
> £40/week
Sounds like UK…
Britannia Hospital?
Not everyone is in the hospital as a patient and not every patient is in the hospital for something very dire. For example, I was in the hospital for 3 days once getting IV steroids. In between doses and things like blood sugar checks, I had no need to stick around the hospital bed. I truly could have happily and safely walked on a treadmill, for example. This was before most hospitals here had wifi, though, and would have been better than being bored.
A few months ago, I was in observation for 6 or so hours due to a medication I was starting. I had a portable heart monitor, and really simply needed hourly blood pressure and pulse checks along with simple access to hospital staff. At one point, my pulse was low and I needed - for my own health - to be active. Luckily, I simply walked around outside, stopped at the kiosk (gas station without the gas), and was back before my next check.
I'm sure there are slews of other situations that one needs to be in a hospital, but not necessarily confined to a hospital bed.
St. Thomas' in London (UK) has a gym for patients that need to do phisyotherapy exercises. I don't recall treadmills or squat racks, but they had medicine balls, free weights, instructors, music, and so on.
The TV thing is infuriating. Apparently our government decided that the NHS should not front the cost of entertainment (which kinda makes sense) but instead we now have for-profit companies screwing over the vulnerable instead. It seems entirely wrong.
> Although gyms are different, likely because if you are healthy enough to hit the gym you are healthy enough to go home.
This really isn't true. Just because someone has broken their arm doesn't mean they're not capable of 30 minutes cycling on a static bike. Just because I was on IV antibiotics 6 times a day didn't mean I couldn't have burnt off some energy in a safe and healthy way.
The lack of sleep _is_ crazy, but even more so the insistence that you should go to bed and wake up early. "ooh, all you do is sleep all day!" - well yes. because my other alternative is sitting in a chair staring at a wall all day (and anyway, I covered 8 miles on crutches last night).
http://www.publicartonline.org.uk/resources/research/documen...
I suspect that this article is an advertisement for Chelsea and Westminster Hospital’s new book, The Healing Arts which is available from Unicorn Publishing Group. I get the feeling any data, if available, is in the book.
1) http://www.lahf.org.uk/sites/default/files/Chelsea%20and%20W...
The burns unit was clean, bright and airy. But there were limited activity available because of infection control reasons, and the layout of the hospital was hostile to physical activity. Using the stairs was hard, all the signs and designs pushed you to the elevators. And those had been programmed incorrectly so they took an age to arrive and the to get you to your floor.
As far as built environments for burns units go it was better than Birmingham Shelly Oak (Victorian building, excellent care because military connection), better than Bristol Frenchay (awful care, I think they've knocked it down now), but not as good as Salisbury (better layout, good care).
This is a severe problem for the NHS: The amount of estate that's just terrible is surprising.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S003039921...
Uh, I don't have access to the full article, but was the control hiding the equipment with a blank screen or no screen at all?
Cause if the control was no screen at all, I don't think they were testing what they say they were testing:
"The significant clinical outcomes of this research provide the evidence of the value of integrating visual art into the environment of a labour and delivery room, improving the quality of the maternity service and potentially delivering real cost savings benefits to Hospitals."
The placebo effect is scientifically recognized. It is real. Let's be mindful not to dismiss it - like it or not.
I had to go to the hospital, nothing serious. It was so extremely sad to see 30-40 years old furniture, dark rooms that had never been re-painted, power outlets had been refurbished for the new European type. There was a sign that said, "Do not leave weelchears in this zone". Of course, there were wheelchairs as they did not have space anywhere else.
It felt so completely wrong. Are we, as a society, investing in the right things? Austerity in Spain means that there is no money for hospitals, education, etc. Anything that is not live-and-dead is a luxury. Meanwhile, those companies, all registered in tax havens like Malta or Ireland, had money to spend in fancy breakfast, new furniture every few years, unused monitors in every wall, ...
We know that to go to a hospital is a bad experience as you would like to be anywhere else. Why do we make it so much worse? Why we do not invest in life quality?
I know that there are countries where it is worse, I am happy that everyone in the country had free health care. But, it could be much better.
In other words, incentives aren't aligned. The people with the power to make decisions have little or no forces making things better for healthcare consumers, outside of boutique private healthcare.
It is also worth noting that the trajectory that the company you work for in terms of office change is likely to be an outlier and (in)directly creates an skewed perspective of things, which when brought back to the average environment, creates a 'shock'.
[1] US: https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-spe... [2] CAD: https://secure.cihi.ca/free_products/NHEX-trends-narrative-r...
Doctor's offices in the US look nicer than those in Italy, where I lived for a number of years. But ultimately, patients pay for that, and overall the US health care system is reaaaallllly expensive.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, why do people get hundreds of thousands of dollars in bills for staying in a hospital?
ROSENTHAL: Well, the first thing I tell people when they ask me this question is to go into your local hospital and look around. And the marble lobbies, the art, the concierges at the front desk - our hospitals look like not five-star hotels - seven-star hotels. I mean, I think the most stark thing when people go overseas is hospitals in Europe, which deliver really high-quality care. They look like junior high schools. You know, they're not fancy, but the care is good.
https://www.npr.org/2017/07/02/535240692/the-call-in-your-qu...
That's not to say there's not a happy, affordable balance.
Yes! That's exactly what my (limited) experience of hospitals in Italy was like. They're very plain, but the doctors know their stuff.
Is there specific examples of these hospitals? I've never seen anything that extravagant in any of the hospitals in Pittsburgh.
Edited to correct typo
Hospitals (I’m assuming you’re describing public European hospitals) aren’t subject to those pressures - instead, they have to fight for the tiniest bit of budget to replace/fix things that should have been replaced years ago, or to hire enough staff.
If you go to fancy private American hospitals, you will also find that they have the latest TVs/trendy furniture/etc, because they have to signal to wealthy people that they are worth giving their money to.
When you look at how inflated costs are for the latter, I’m not sure it’s a desirable thing.
This kind of question can be tricky. It biases the answer. The answer is usually "No, but it's hard to agree about what the right things are."
But in a lot of cases, how is as important as how much.. and related. Are we doing this the right way? Are the right people making the right decisions?
A hospital or an industry is also a culture, and they often do things for cultural reasons.
The "fast-growing software companies" have a culture of nice offices. The economic rationale is that it's cheap, helps recruit, and possibly adds to moral or productivity or somesuch.
Hospitals have a utilitarian culture, austere at times. Older culture, more complicated reasons. A lot of the difference (since we're talking about appearances) is down to what they want to project and to whom.
Sorry where are you getting this information from? I have family in Spain that is expecting to get excellent healthcare from their supplemental health insurance.
Sure, you'll still need to do it and put them on the walls.
Source: wife is a nurse in the ER.
However, those lights are usually handheld and small. Expecting cleaning staff to cover 100% of all walls each time they cleaned it (which is multiple times a day) is prone to failure.
Plus those lights work best when the room is dark. Which means you could only clean it at night.
And some rooms have multiple patients, so now the cleaner people will need to work around them / have them be OK with the room being dark for a while. This can work, but again not every patient will be comfortable with a "crime scene investigation" happening while they recover.
Think viable transmission vectors for those diseases.
I don't know what hospitals you're going to but the ones in the US don't qualify that statement. Would I say they're filthy? No, but they certainly don't look like they're cleaned often, thoroughly, or completely.
Edit: there was even one room where I put on rubber gloves and used the disinfectant wipes from the janitor’s cart to clean dried blood from my IV pole and the bed rails.
Oww, come on, that is simply not true, in the last - say - 100 years in Italy (post WW1 emergencies).
So, either your friend is very, very old, or she is making it up for the benefit of folklore.
Until the '60's or maybe early '70's syringes and needles were not "use once and throwaway" but of course they were washed after every use and sterilized before a new use.
A decent non-trivial local artist's painting typically costs around $2000. $65K spent locally could've been a good gift for the local art community.
High ceilings that damp out sound, generally light and soft colors, soft sounds and diverse art installations.
It's a real shame that when people discuss architecture we largely focus on the exterior of buildings, but truly the craft is about how people move through and experience a space. This is especially relevant in the current era of large glass office towers, which while on the outside tend to seem rather bland, tend to have a far better interior experience than their external one puts on.
Since Japan has national health care, they spend the minimum amount necessary to keep these offices operational. So there is no art, no big spaces, no "nice to have" things.
If a patient only spends 15-30 minutes in that environment, will it really impact their stress, anxiety and pain?
They could make a policy change to accept art donations (of paintings, posters, etc), and put them up on the walls. I imagine a lot of people would be happy to donate art for the public good.
So looks like the target of study is high stress cases.
As for cost, no one said you have to install Picasso or brand names. Plenty of local artists could contribute to wall designs, or even contributions from the affiliated hospital university's art department.
Ditto for natural ventilation.
We have found that there is a wide variety of styles within healthcare facilities from bland and cold to colorful and vibrant. My gut tells me that decision makers don't try new things for a variety of reasons, with one being that they don't know what the possibilities are that exist.
Articles such as this will hopefully help more people in the right places know what is possible and worth trying.
What I find interesting/odd is that the article focuses on the patients. Yet makes no mention of the art's affect on the doctors and staff
There is no better feeling than seeing all those boring spiritually sterile hallways magically transform into a kaleidoscope of humanity.
Our clients include the full spectrum of businesses and consumers ( Uber, Burning Man, Private Schools, Medical Clinics, and Families )
Even the dismally badly designed, and laughably misnamed, Great Western Hospital in Swindon has pictures on the walls, unfortunately few of them are where the patients spend the most time.
The average price of paintings or photograph prints are a tiny fraction of what they spend on medical equipment, and if it reduces patient stress, it sounds like an incredibly big win-win.
You would think we could find a way to improve the situation.
I quite enjoy it.
Im sure there are tons of things hospitals can do to help the surroundings. Whose going to put up the money?
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Psychological warfare seems the only logical reason for having this paintings near to customs.