<story><title>Filling hospitals with art reduces patient stress, anxiety and pain</title><url>https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/22-28-july-2019/chelsea-westminster-hospital-arts-research/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>merpnderp</author><text>Where is this? In the US I’ve never seen a hospital without windows and free tv. Although gyms are different, likely because if you are healthy enough to hit the gym you are healthy enough to go home.&lt;p&gt;Although one thing that always stood out is no one is expected to sleep in a hospital. A nurse or doctor will likely be in every few hours doing something to wake you up. And in between there will always be noise from the hall.</text></item><item><author>BuildTheRobots</author><text>When not in hospital, we suggest people need mental stimulation, exercise, good food and daylight to stay healthy and sane. None of these things are possible when you&amp;#x27;re convalescing.&lt;p&gt;Don&amp;#x27;t get me wrong, I&amp;#x27;m _very_ thankful for the fact I still have both my legs, but staying sane is extremely difficult.&lt;p&gt;Half of the bays on my ward literally had no windows. There were people around me that hadn&amp;#x27;t seen daylight in over a month. 
There wasn&amp;#x27;t any publicly accessible free WiFi, the TVs were costing over £40&amp;#x2F;week. There&amp;#x27;s no library, no social spaces and absolutely nothing to do. Even the staff are too busy to have a conversation with.
You had two meals served 6 hours apart. It wasn&amp;#x27;t awful but certainly wasn&amp;#x27;t great. Even buying and eating a lot of my own food left me loosing a tonne of weight.
And not a single accessible gym or swimming pool even close. Being able to get healthy and fit seems like a no-brainer.&lt;p&gt;Don&amp;#x27;t get me wrong, there&amp;#x27;s a lot of good, but I find it impossible to believe this isn&amp;#x27;t causing more problems and actually increasing recovery times costing them more money over-all.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>BuildTheRobots</author><text>Bear in mind some of the buildings still in use are ancient - the oldest part of of the hospital was opened 1860 and is still in use. It&amp;#x27;s also had rooms re-purposed from things like storage and kitchens to actual wards.&lt;p&gt;The TV thing is infuriating. Apparently our government decided that the NHS should not front the cost of entertainment (which kinda makes sense) but instead we now have for-profit companies screwing over the vulnerable instead. It seems entirely wrong.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Although gyms are different, likely because if you are healthy enough to hit the gym you are healthy enough to go home.&lt;p&gt;This really isn&amp;#x27;t true. Just because someone has broken their arm doesn&amp;#x27;t mean they&amp;#x27;re not capable of 30 minutes cycling on a static bike. Just because I was on IV antibiotics 6 times a day didn&amp;#x27;t mean I couldn&amp;#x27;t have burnt off some energy in a safe and healthy way.&lt;p&gt;The lack of sleep _is_ crazy, but even more so the insistence that you should go to bed and wake up early. &amp;quot;ooh, all you do is sleep all day!&amp;quot; - well yes. because my other alternative is sitting in a chair staring at a wall all day (and anyway, I covered 8 miles on crutches last night).</text></comment>
<story><title>Filling hospitals with art reduces patient stress, anxiety and pain</title><url>https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/22-28-july-2019/chelsea-westminster-hospital-arts-research/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>merpnderp</author><text>Where is this? In the US I’ve never seen a hospital without windows and free tv. Although gyms are different, likely because if you are healthy enough to hit the gym you are healthy enough to go home.&lt;p&gt;Although one thing that always stood out is no one is expected to sleep in a hospital. A nurse or doctor will likely be in every few hours doing something to wake you up. And in between there will always be noise from the hall.</text></item><item><author>BuildTheRobots</author><text>When not in hospital, we suggest people need mental stimulation, exercise, good food and daylight to stay healthy and sane. None of these things are possible when you&amp;#x27;re convalescing.&lt;p&gt;Don&amp;#x27;t get me wrong, I&amp;#x27;m _very_ thankful for the fact I still have both my legs, but staying sane is extremely difficult.&lt;p&gt;Half of the bays on my ward literally had no windows. There were people around me that hadn&amp;#x27;t seen daylight in over a month. 
There wasn&amp;#x27;t any publicly accessible free WiFi, the TVs were costing over £40&amp;#x2F;week. There&amp;#x27;s no library, no social spaces and absolutely nothing to do. Even the staff are too busy to have a conversation with.
You had two meals served 6 hours apart. It wasn&amp;#x27;t awful but certainly wasn&amp;#x27;t great. Even buying and eating a lot of my own food left me loosing a tonne of weight.
And not a single accessible gym or swimming pool even close. Being able to get healthy and fit seems like a no-brainer.&lt;p&gt;Don&amp;#x27;t get me wrong, there&amp;#x27;s a lot of good, but I find it impossible to believe this isn&amp;#x27;t causing more problems and actually increasing recovery times costing them more money over-all.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Broken_Hippo</author><text>&amp;quot;if you are healthy enough to hit the gym you are healthy enough to go home.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;Not everyone is in the hospital as a patient and not every patient is in the hospital for something very dire. For example, I was in the hospital for 3 days once getting IV steroids. In between doses and things like blood sugar checks, I had no need to stick around the hospital bed. I truly could have happily and safely walked on a treadmill, for example. This was before most hospitals here had wifi, though, and would have been better than being bored.&lt;p&gt;A few months ago, I was in observation for 6 or so hours due to a medication I was starting. I had a portable heart monitor, and really simply needed hourly blood pressure and pulse checks along with simple access to hospital staff. At one point, my pulse was low and I needed - for my own health - to be active. Luckily, I simply walked around outside, stopped at the kiosk (gas station without the gas), and was back before my next check.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m sure there are slews of other situations that one needs to be in a hospital, but not necessarily confined to a hospital bed.</text></comment>