February 02, 2010 - 8:55 PM

Nature Art in the Emergency Room

Title: "Dogwood in Morning Mist"

Location: Lake of the Ozarks State Park, Missouri

I took a family member to an emergency room over the weekend.  Nothing serious as it turns out, and we thankfully went back home the same day.  The hospital had recently added on new construction and the emergency department was less than two years old. Very modern architecture, lots of windows letting in sun, and lots of framed nature photographs on the walls!  It gave me a chance to experience first hand as a family member of a patient what this new hospital experience was like and how the art contributed to the experience.  

This was initially an anxious situation.  As we walked down the hall from triage to waiting room, we were "greeted" with the first set of nature photographs in the hallway.  The architecture and color scheme were bright and modern, but a bit austere. The artwork definitely softened the hard edges of the place.

 As we sat in the waiting room, it was very comforting and somehow reassuring to see the nature scenes.  Here was a place where life and death were in struggle, and death often wins.  Emblems of life hung on the walls.  One thing nature photographs represent for me is the incredible tenacity and determination of life in nature.  "Death may sometimes win here, but we are tenacious about healing and living life" seemed to be the underlying message.  

It goes without saying most hospitals would rally around dedication to healing and health. It is not so common for hospitals to look at the process of healing with the cutting edge theories of evidence based design.  The unique branding message here is that these artwork choices indicate the hospital is willing to go beyond excellent clinical care and deliver the best overall healing experience.  They’ve even looked at how art and other amenities can contribute to the health and well being of the patient and their families. 

In the competitive healthcare market today, going beyond the normal expectations of care is becoming the new benchmark.

Here is a list of the effects and advantages of using Evidence Based Artwork such as certain types of natural landscape photographs: (more on which types in later posts)

- Create a healing and hopeful environment

- Relieve stress associated with a healthcare environment

- Reflect and enhance the hospital’s image through amenities of design and architecture

- Address a culturally and regionally diverse population

- Reflect overall standard of excellence

- Reduce pain

- Reduce blood pressure

- Improve patient satisfaction

- Benefit for employees (reduced workplace stress, improved satisfaction, improved capability of the workplace   to attract and retain qualified employees)

- Cost savings by improved medical outcomes (reduced intake of costly strong analgesics)

(The above list was compiled from two sources: 1. Hathorn, K. & Nanda, U. (2008).  “A Guide to Evidence Based Art”, Center for Health Design publication.  2. Ulrich, R.S. (2001). Effects of healthcare environmental design on medical outcomes.  In A Dilani (Ed.) “Design and Health: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Health and Design”. Stockholm, Sweden: Svensk Byggtjanst, 49 -59.