Hospitals

Sound Without Walls – Considering room acoustics in hospitals as an integral aspect of biophilic design

Sound Without Walls – Considering room acoustics in hospitals as an integral aspect of biophilic design

Sound may not be one of the first things we think of in biophilic design but what most people want from the auditory environment is intrinsically linked to nature.

Our hearing is often key in our perception of the world around us; it helps us to interact, communicate and be aware of what is happening and impending change. It is designed for the outside, a world without walls and other hard reflective surfaces that focus sound and allow it to build up to levels where it affects our concentration, increases levels of anxiety, negatively affects performance and interrupts our sleep….

Epigenetics - Why our hospitals need to look and feel more natural

Epigenetics - Why our hospitals need to look and feel more natural

Epigenetics - Why our hospitals need to look and feel more natural. ‘Epigenetics’ is a recently established pillar of biomedicine, it examines how environmental signals control the health of our cells. the opposite of the placebo effect, the nocebo effect, which, simply put, says negative thoughts create sickness. If you believe the power of the placebo effect, think about how important it is to not fall into the nocebo effect, driven by negative thinking. This may worry many, as psychologists say that 70-80% of the average person’s thoughts are negative ones. So, coming back to the fear of being in hospital…

Preventing the £100 billion loss to the British Economy

Preventing the £100 billion loss to the British Economy

70 million working days are lost each year due to mental ill-health, costing Britain £70-£100 billion, according to the Mental Health Foundation, with a 24% increase to the number of working days lost in the past 6 years the number of working days due to stress, depression and anxiety. How do we improve this? The solution is closer and cheaper than you think…

ICU - Intensive Care Units and Nature

ICU - Intensive Care Units and Nature

“Rethinking the intensive care environment: considering nature in nursing practice” is an excellent paper by Claire Minton, MN, RN, Lesley Batten, PhD, RN, it “explores evidence related to the negative impacts of the intensive care unit environment on patient outcomes and explores the potential counteracting benefits of ‘nature-based’ nursing interventions as a way to improve care outcomes.”…

Nature Stimulus enhancing the Birth Experience

Nature Stimulus enhancing the Birth Experience

A fascinating report in HERD: Health Environments Research and Design Journal, reports results of research studying the influence of nature stimulus in enhancing the birth experience.

“These findings support the study hypothesis which states that the nature images would influence the labor experience positively. In addition, the findings emphasize the importance of incorporating non-pharmacological techniques in the labor and delivery room (LDR) units to soothe the pain. Adding nature imagery to the LDR environment can be one of these techniques.

Faster Recovery

Faster Recovery

What would you rather stare at, flappy A4 photocopies, manky laminated words, nothing visually attractive. Would you create your home like this? Making an environment pleasant for all of us, whether Doctors or Patients should be important. Psychology and positive feelings engender healing and recovery. That’s not rocket science and is generally accepted. So what if there is an affordable solution that would help accelerate healing and bed space? Interesting, no?

Patient Recovery

Patient Recovery

We developed our biophilic range of fine art so it can support the wellness movement and help improve the lives of workers, patients and families. Our Hyper-Real print range is water-proof and fire-retardant and can go anywhere from surgery to recovery room, board-room to nursery, wet-room to a living wall.

While ideally one would install natural light, plants, waterfalls within a hospital environment, of course it is not practical in buildings already designed and built. Often there are no windows in rooms, or recovery rooms are soulless places, missing something natural. Hospitals and healthcare spaces are sterile environments for health reasons and so they should be, one advantage of installing Argenta-Wellness imagery into any recovery room, surgery, waiting rooms, A and E, Isolation rooms is that they can be cleaned with detergent (they are waterproof and fireproof). You can even install them in wet rooms to create a feeling of wellness as patients are washing, bringing a spa feeling to an otherwise unlikely environment. So also there are no concerns for an increase in maintenance costs, as they can be cleaned and wiped as part of the usual clean-up procedures.

Bringing the outdoors in can enhance the wellbeing of staff and patients alike, encouraging staff retention and happiness, and recovery for patients freeing up beds.