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Filling hospitals with art reduces patient stress, anxiety and pain

designweek.co.uk

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Re: Filling hospitals with art reduces patient stress, anxiety and pain

#71

Post by joe5150 »

SamuelAdams wrote: post #20
JulianMorrison wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever looked at a seemingly clean surface with a UV light? It's surprising how much invisible ick there is, and it pops out since it visibly fluoresces. This might be a useful way to see the spills?

Yes, that's another verification tool they use for highly contagious (think HIV / AIDS / HEP-C) patients. 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 pat…

I have never witnessed walls in a hospital room being cleaned

Re: Filling hospitals with art reduces patient stress, anxiety and pain

#72

Post by amatecha »

BuildTheRobots wrote: post #39

When not in hospital, we suggest people need mental stimulation, exercise, good food and daylight to stay healthy and sane. None of these things are possible when you're convalescing. 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…

Yeah I've had so many family members in hospitals over the years and these are always the most nerve-wracking, depressing places. And I'm in a "first-world" region with one of the highest costs of living in the world.

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.

Re: Filling hospitals with art reduces patient stress, anxiety and pain

#73

Post by fataliss »

I think it's safe to assume that anything you can do to make the patient feel more comfortable and take their mind away from their situation will help with stress and anxiety. It's like the dentist chairs with a netflix table above your head. You are less likely to be aware of what's going on in your mouth and be hyper sensitive to the doc's every move if you are distracted by the latest avengers!

Re: Filling hospitals with art reduces patient stress, anxiety and pain

#74

Post by zjaffee »

The article seems to be describing this as if it's a new idea, but at least in my experience, when you walk through some of the more world class hospitals (The Cleveland Clinic comes to mind), there is clearly a tremendous amount of thought in regards to interior architecture.

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.

Re: Filling hospitals with art reduces patient stress, anxiety and pain

#75

Post by amatecha »

Ensorceled wrote: post #6
d--b wrote: post #2

No shit Sherlock! You know what makes patients feel better too? Super large rooms with a lot of light, and designer furniture. Add quality meals and perhaps people will feel ok in hospitals...

Quality meals ... when my dad had his heart surgery his first solid meal was a low quality, high-fat hamburger on a plain white bun (no tomato or lettuce, just ketchup), salad with enough ranch dressing for 4 salads and a plastic container with peaches soaked in syrup (ie. HFCS). I was horrified. I mentioned it to his cardiologist who, to his credit, went on a rant about how the food seems to be especially chosen to…

Yeah that's actually messed up, he should have received a different menu of food that won't exacerbate the very issues he just had surgery for!

Re: Filling hospitals with art reduces patient stress, anxiety and pain

#77

Post by giarc »

dgudkov wrote: post #65
giarc wrote: post #31

The hospital I work at was looking at cost saving measures. Someone realized we were paying $65k a year in art insurance. Generous people would loan the art to the hospital on the condition that the hospital would insure it. When times were good, the hospital had no issue paying for the insurance, but once we had to cut costs, it became clear we couldn't be a free art storage facility for citizens. They inventoried e…

It sounds like the type of expensive art that would be relevant rather in an investment bank than in a public hospital. 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.

There likely weren't any high value paintings seeing as how they would be publicly displayed in a hospital, however, we are a very large hospital, so there were quite a number of pieces. Lots were just in storage as we didn't have anywhere to put them.

Re: Filling hospitals with art reduces patient stress, anxiety and pain

#79

Post by pbhjpbhj »

Ensorceled wrote: post #6
d--b wrote: post #2

No shit Sherlock! You know what makes patients feel better too? Super large rooms with a lot of light, and designer furniture. Add quality meals and perhaps people will feel ok in hospitals...

Quality meals ... when my dad had his heart surgery his first solid meal was a low quality, high-fat hamburger on a plain white bun (no tomato or lettuce, just ketchup), salad with enough ranch dressing for 4 salads and a plastic container with peaches soaked in syrup (ie. HFCS). I was horrified. I mentioned it to his cardiologist who, to his credit, went on a rant about how the food seems to be especially chosen to…

Which country are you in? The mention of HFCS suggests USA, but [USA based?] companies have pushed that in to a lot of foods in UK now it seems so ...?
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