A team may rank the possible hazards and focus on preventing those that can cause the most harm. Fossil Fuels. Nuclear Fuels. Acid Rain. Climate Change. Climate Feedback. Ocean Acidification. Rising Sea Level. She took Sue to a yoga class, where Sue began learning how to work with her breath, and to focus on the moment without fixating on worries about things that were out of her control. In the mornings before swim practice, she began doing 10 minutes of seated meditation with her mother. After addressing the stress, Sue was still very busy, but she slept better, had more energy, and her stomach problems disappeared.
There is a great deal of very rigorous research that links the physical environment of hospitals to health outcomes. According to Ulrich and Zimming, authors of the report, The Role of the Physical Environment in the 21st Century Hospital , there are more than credible studies that show how aspects of healthcare design can influence medical outcomes.
Essentially, this research shows that the conventional ways hospitals have been designed contribute to stress and adverse patient and staff outcomes. Poor design can adversely impact health and wellbeing, as well as staff productivity and ability to deliver great patient care.
For example, because of poor design, nurses in most hospitals spend a great deal of time just gathering the material they need for care. One study showed that almost one-third of nursing staff time was spent walking.
Ulrich, p5. On the other hand, improving the physical environment can make healthcare settings less stressful, safer, and better places to work. Experts in the new area of evidence-based design have identified five environmental factors that can have a large impact on health outcomes.
Changes in these areas help create a healing environment that is psychologically supportive for patients, families, and staff. And many hospitals and healthcare settings are applying these findings.
Research demonstrates that improvement in five environmental factors reduces stress and improves patient outcomes:. Many studies produce strong evidence that even three to five minutes of contact with nature can significantly reduce stress and have a complex impact on emotions, reducing anger and fear and increasing pleasant feelings.
This effect can be achieved by providing: views to the outside, interior gardens or aquariums, or art with a nature theme. Offering choices increases the patient's sense of control, which can significantly lessen stress. Options include the ability to: adjust lighting and temperature, choose music, select places to sit, and control the timing of meals.
In addition, better wayfinding signs and information about where to go reduces disorientation and helps patients feel in control, as does better hospital layouts that allow frail patients to be more independent in getting around.
There is extensive evidence that social support from family and close friends has important benefits. For example, studies show that social support improves recovery in heart patients, and emotional wellbeing and quality of life in late-stage cancer patients. Social support can be enhanced by providing lounges with comfortable furniture and designing patient rooms to accommodate visitors and make it comfortable for them to stay overnight.
Noise causes stress as evidenced by increased heart rate and blood pressure and reduced oxygen levels in the blood in both adults and babies and is related to adverse medical outcomes. Good design can reduce noise from paging systems, equipment, alarms, roommates, and staff by reducing the sources and by increasing sound absorption. Diversions may include: artwork of nature not abstract art , fireplaces, videos of nature, and aquariums.
If you are a health professional interested in an optimal healing environment, you might also want to learn more about person-centered, relationship-based care. We offer two specializations on Coursera, an online platform available to all, that teach practical skills for enhancing health and healing.
Learn about aromatherapy another aspect of environment , herbal medicines, guided imagery, mindfulness, and the full range of integrative nursing skills. Note that these courses may also be of interest to people interested in their own wellbeing or for those taking care of loved ones. More info on this topic. Healing Environment Home. It is therefore becoming increasingly important to raise awareness of the existence of these issues, as well as what can be done to reduce their negative impact.
Some of the key issues are:. Pollution of the air, water and soil caused by toxins such as plastics, heavy metals and nitrates, caused by factors such as toxins and gases released by factories, combustion of fossil fuels, acid rain, oil spill and industrial waste. The emission of greenhouse gases due to human activity causes global warming, which in turn causes an increase in temperature that then leads to rising sea levels, melting of polar ice caps, flash floods and desertification.
We are facing a shortage of resources such as food, water and fuel to sustain the rising global population, particularly in developing countries. Intensive agriculture attempting to lessen the problem actually leads to more damage through the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides.
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