Color POV Tool

healthcare_enlightenment

Sometimes a mild annoyance... a nagging irritation can be an unwelcome harbinger of a more serious medical condition. And after a period of uncertainty there is always a moment of clarity when you know that something inside of you is not quite right. You are not well... and it is scary.

Many confronting serious illness will tell you that fear is one of the most debilitating side effects, often hindering the recovery and healing process. Fear of the unknown. Fear of isolation. Fear of recurrence. Fear of dying. This fear affects the patient and loved ones and cannot be quantified or reduced to a common set of symptoms and prescribed away. It is only softened by the gentle touch of human connection, compassion, sensitivity, and honesty within a treatment framework that acknowledges that "illness, suffering, and healing are experiential and personal" (Dickerson 2005). Unfortunately many spaces designed to support clinical aspects of treatment and recovery often do not address the personal or experiential costs resulting from serious illness.

Healthcare and design professionals, however, are beginning to think about spaces for caregiving that "promote awareness, healing, and transformation at the deepest levels of the body, mind, heart, and spirit" (Berry et al. 2004). Proponents of Optimal Healing Environments are advocating a design stance that recognizes the inherent importance of education and information, a direct connection with others, the validity and importance of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM), self-inquiry and introspection, and spirituality (Berry et al. 2004). This theory of "emotionally supportive design" offsets the natural stresses related to incapacitation, uncertainty, fear, and isolation that accompany serious illness by providing environments and conditions promoting confidence, comfort, reassurance, and fellowship for patients and caregivers (Berry et al 2004). Together patients and caregivers form a meaningful bond in the construction of "healing relationships" based on empathy, compassion, caring, love, warmth, trust, courtesy, and respect (Jonas and Chez 2004). Can designers actually provide spaces that promote the development of the healing relationship? While there is not a guaranteed prescription for such a space, designers are now creating enriched environments that support, rather than hinder, their development.

Coupled with an enlightened acceptance in healthcare of meditation, acupuncture, yoga, and other alternative healing practices (Wesa & Culliton 2004), designers are using color, texture, sound, connection to nature and the natural environment, and planning that allows for intimate connections between people and a modicum of patient control to create environments that support holistic healing.

Through informed practices designers are entering into healing relationships of their own with patients and caregivers to ensure that no person suffers needlessly from anxiety or fear of being alone.

Dickerson, V.M. "Sign Out: Optimal healing." Contemporary OB/GYN, 1 March 2005.

Berry, L., D. Parker, R. Coile, D.K. Hamilton, D. O?Neil, B. Sadler. "The Business Case for Better Buildings." Frontiers of Health Services Management, 21:1 (Fall 2004), 3-24

Jonas, W. and Chez, R. "Toward Optimal Healing Environments in Health Care." The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 10:Supp. 1 (2004), S-1-S-6

Wesa K. and Culliton P. "Recommendations and Guidelines Regarding the Preferred Research Protocol for Investigating the Impact of an Optimal Healing Environment on Patients with Substance Abuse Problems." The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 10:1 (2004)