Healing Environment Characteristics
- Social Characteristics
- Psychological Characteristics
- Physical Characteristics
- Spirituality
- Behavioral Practices
Effective healing environments may also be called Optimal Healing Environments (OHEs) in the healthcare industry. The Samueli Institute and other influential health care organizations began to develop specific criteria for a healing environment that could be evaluated and refined to help patients heal. OHEs view the hospital as a holistic environment, in which many factors come together to form a synergistic whole. Many different factors influence the creation and maintenance of a successful healing environment. The primary qualities of an environment that can promote healing are physical, emotional, social, behavioral, and psychological characteristics, each of which influences healthcare impact on patients.
1. Social Characteristics
A healing hospital will incorporate social characteristics that include the patient, caregivers, other staff members, and the family. Listening skills are a crucial part of the healing environment, in which caregivers focus on a therapeutic alliance between themselves, the patient, and family members. An emphasis on instruction, ongoing education and practice in the healthcare community also promotes a strong social component in an environment that contributes to healing.
2. Psychological Characteristics
Most positive results of the integration of psychological benefits for patients in a healing environment have been evaluated on an individual patient, not hospital-wide basis. The principles of the healing environment include helping patients and practitioners to develop intention, expectation, awareness, and belief encouraging healing, well-being and ongoing growth and improvement. Because depression and other psychological illness can often co-occur with illness, patient care that incorporates psychological care and physical care is essential to develop a strong healing conditions.
3. Physical Characteristics of the Healing Environment
Since they can be more easily controlled and standardized, physical components of healing hospitals have been more thoroughly studied than some other components of the healing environment. Furniture design, color schemes, artwork, and even in-room media can all positively influence patient recovery. A safe environment also contributes to healing. Ergonomic and safety designs for equipment and furnishings promote healing and prevent injuries that will slow down or even stop the healing process. Safe equipment designs also protect practitioners and families.
4. Spirituality in the Healing Environment
An aspect of healing that some may consider impossible to study or assess, spirituality is now a part of healing environments in all holistic healing hospitals. Rather than emphasizing a specific religion or practice, the healing environment fosters techniques that provide love, compassion, connectivity, and awareness in practitioners, patients, and families. Visual images, music, lighting, and gently guided movements such as yoga or tai chi, are all part of environments that encourage patients to heal and recover.
5. Behavioral Practices Promoting Healing
Patient care professionals can adopt behaviors that encourage care teams, as well as patients, to understand the healing process. Caregivers can teach and encourage patient self-care practices, helping patients to have control over their healing processes. Caregivers and staff can make positive behavioral changes through ongoing education in best health care and healing practices.
Healthcare professionals continue to build a better healing environment for patients using social, psychological, physical, spiritual, and behavioral components. According to Healthcare Design Magazine, the best environment for healing encompasses so much more than colors and clean rooms, although designers have specialized in selecting the right colors for every part of the hospital.
