How to Improve Your Unitʼs Environment

Abstract

H ow often do you think about the auditory, visual, olfactory, and tactile impressions your hospital unit makes on patients? Steal a moment, close your eyes, and listen to the cacophony of intercoms, alarms, ventilation systems, TVs, laughing, talking, and crying. What about the smells and the temperature? Now open your eyes. Do you find the light is harsh, too bright, with fixtures that are cold and intimidating? Today, there's little doubt that the physical environment can positively affect therapeutic outcomes, staff performance, and patient satisfaction. Research in the early 1980s demonstrated that environmental quality can translate into shorter lengths of stay and reduce the use of analgesics. A study conducted by Hospitals magazine drew a parallel between the quality of the working environment and a health care organization's ability to retain competent staff. More recently, in the 1990s, the Planetree projects have demonstrated that the environment can improve patient, physician, and nurse satisfaction. The Center for Nursing Innovation at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston has been established to find ways to improve the quality of health care, including redesigning the physical environment. Using St. Luke's experience as