
Filling hospitals with art reduces patient stress, anxiety and pain - rchaudhary
https://www.designweek.co.uk/issues/22-28-july-2019/chelsea-westminster-hospital-arts-research/
======
BuildTheRobots
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're convalescing.

Don't get me wrong, I'm _very_ thankful for the fact I still have both my
legs, but staying sane is extremely difficult.

Half of the bays on my ward literally had no windows. There were people around
me that hadn't seen daylight in over a month. There wasn't any publicly
accessible free WiFi, the TVs were costing over £40/week. There'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't
awful but certainly wasn'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.

Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of good, but I find it impossible to believe
this isn't causing more problems and actually increasing recovery times
costing them more money over-all.

~~~
merpnderp
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.

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.

~~~
antris
>if you are healthy enough to hit the gym you are healthy enough to go home.

Please don't perpetuate the myth that sickness can be seen from the outside by
a layperson.

~~~
telchar
GP isn't wrong though, if you're well enough to go work out at the gym you
don't need to be in a hospital taking up very expensive limited bed space.
Treatment for a very sick people is often done outpatient or in non-hospital
skilled nursing or residential facilities. Not looking sick doesn't factor in
here.

I'm assuming GGP was not referring to physical therapy facilities however,
some hospital inpatients do require that.

~~~
BuildTheRobots
There are a number of reasons people are kept in hospital and their ability to
exercise may or may not factor into this.

I spent 10 weeks as an inpatient on 6* daily IV antibiotics (which would have
been impossible to do at home) to treat a serious infection in the bone in my
foot. On some of my better days I managed to cover nearly 10 miles on crutches
or in a wheelchair. Being able to use a gym to work out would have been better
and substantially safer all round.

On the flipside, it's amazing how many doors one can get through using nothing
but a lollypop-stick from the ice-cream machine in reception or a pair of
crutches to open gates from the other side. And technically the "no public
access" signs don't apply because you're not public, you're an in-patient at
that point... but there has to be better ways of staying fit and sane that
would apply to the other 99.9% of patients.

------
jdietrich
Before everyone piles in with their opinion, has anyone actually found the
research mentioned in this article? I've searched quite thoroughly, but I
can't find any sign that it has actually been published anywhere. I did find
the paper from 2004 and was not impressed.

[http://www.publicartonline.org.uk/resources/research/documen...](http://www.publicartonline.org.uk/resources/research/documents/ChelseaAndWestminsterResearchproject.pdf)

~~~
gwillen
Indeed not, and I am EXTREMELY skeptical of the claim that birth times are
reduced TWO HOURS (!!!) by the addition of art. That's the kind of effect you
see in papers that get retracted for outright fraud, let alone dubious and
irreproducible studies.

~~~
tokai
I think this is the paper on the birth time.

[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S003039921...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0030399210000654)

~~~
jdietrich
Unblinded (somewhat unavoidable), informal randomisation, n=26, the sole
author is an interior designer with no scientific training. Paper states an
"average" difference in birth times of 2.1 hours (not clear if mean or
median), no SDs or p-value stated. Published in _Optics & Laser Technology_
for some reason; the editorial board appears to be entirely comprised of
engineers.

~~~
LeifCarrotson
On the plus side, at the very least the same hospital and hospital rooms were
used. I initially assumed they were comparing an expensive, spacious upper-
class hospital full of art with a run-down brutalist Medicaid hospital, and
conflating sampling bias with causality.

------
kartan
I have been working in some fast-growing software companies. Every few years,
we change office and get one in a better place, with new furniture, fancier
each time, tv monitor is everywhere, each wall had pictures and was colourful.

I had to go to the hospital, nothing serious. It was so extremely sad to see
30-40 years old furniture, dark rooms that had never been re-painted, power
outlets had been refurbished for the new European type. There was a sign that
said, "Do not leave weelchears in this zone". Of course, there were
wheelchairs as they did not have space anywhere else.

It felt so completely wrong. Are we, as a society, investing in the right
things? Austerity in Spain means that there is no money for hospitals,
education, etc. Anything that is not live-and-dead is a luxury. Meanwhile,
those companies, all registered in tax havens like Malta or Ireland, had money
to spend in fancy breakfast, new furniture every few years, unused monitors in
every wall, ...

We know that to go to a hospital is a bad experience as you would like to be
anywhere else. Why do we make it so much worse? Why we do not invest in life
quality?

I know that there are countries where it is worse, I am happy that everyone in
the country had free health care. But, it could be much better.

~~~
davidw
> I know that there are countries where it is worse, I am happy that everyone
> in the country had free health care. But, it could be much better.

Doctor's offices in the US look nicer than those in Italy, where I lived for a
number of years. But ultimately, patients pay for that, and overall the US
health care system is reaaaallllly expensive.

~~~
klenwell
See this NPR interview with a healthcare expert from the Kaiser Foundation:

 _GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, why do people get hundreds of thousands of dollars
in bills for staying in a hospital?

ROSENTHAL: Well, the first thing I tell people when they ask me this question
is to go into your local hospital and look around. And the marble lobbies, the
art, the concierges at the front desk - our hospitals look like not five-star
hotels - seven-star hotels. I mean, I think the most stark thing when people
go overseas is hospitals in Europe, which deliver really high-quality care.
They look like junior high schools. You know, they're not fancy, but the care
is good._

[https://www.npr.org/2017/07/02/535240692/the-call-in-your-
qu...](https://www.npr.org/2017/07/02/535240692/the-call-in-your-questions-
about-the-senate-health-care-bill)

That's not to say there's not a happy, affordable balance.

~~~
neonhomer
> And the marble lobbies, the art, the concierges at the front desk - our
> hospitals look like not five-star hotels - seven-star hotels.

Is there specific examples of these hospitals? I've never seen anything that
extravagant in any of the hospitals in Pittsburgh.

~~~
daok
Living in California I can tell you that there is free parking with valets.
You can charge your electric car and the lobby is definitely not looking bad
at all. In one hospital, in Washington, there was a super high ceiling with a
piano where a musician comes sometimes during the day to play. It's not
everywhere like these two examples, but I've seen a couple where the level was
way higher than in Canada or Europe.

~~~
iancmceachern
Living in SF I can tell you there are hospitals that charge $35/hr to park
there while in the ER

Edited to correct typo

~~~
daok
Not the case in Mountain View or Los Gatos. Neither the case in Seattle or
Kirkland.

------
covercash
Having spent many months of my life in hospital rooms, even just a brightly
colored paint job really makes things feel better. A lot of older hospitals
have very sterile, bland colors on the floors and walls that would make even a
healthy happy human feel depressed.

~~~
SamuelAdams
Reason for that though: it's easier to see blood and other fluids on a bland /
white wall. Since fluids are a common way for infectious diseases to spread,
they need to be cleaned thoroughly and completely.

Source: wife is a nurse in the ER.

~~~
JulianMorrison
Have you ever looked at a seemingly clean surface with a UV light? It's
surprising how much invisible ick there is, and it pops out since it visibly
fluoresces. This might be a useful way to see the spills?

~~~
SamuelAdams
Yes, that's another verification tool they use for highly contagious (think
HIV / AIDS / HEP-C) patients.

However, those lights are usually handheld and small. Expecting cleaning staff
to cover 100% of all walls each time they cleaned it (which is multiple times
a day) is prone to failure.

Plus those lights work best when the room is dark. Which means you could only
clean it at night.

And some rooms have multiple patients, so now the cleaner people will need to
work around them / have them be OK with the room being dark for a while. This
can work, but again not every patient will be comfortable with a "crime scene
investigation" happening while they recover.

~~~
anonoholic
"think HIV / AIDS / HEP-C"

Think viable transmission vectors for those diseases.

------
giarc
The hospital I work at was looking at cost saving measures. Someone realized
we were paying $65k a year in art insurance. Generous people would loan the
art to the hospital on the condition that the hospital would insure it. When
times were good, the hospital had no issue paying for the insurance, but once
we had to cut costs, it became clear we couldn't be a free art storage
facility for citizens. They inventoried everything, returned pieces that they
no longer felt like insuring.

~~~
awillen
That does sound like a pretty insane recurring cost. Doesn't seem like there's
any need for really valuable art that requires insurance when murals, photos
and reproductions of the same nice art would do it. Hopefully they just
replaced that all with something much cheaper.

~~~
giarc
I think you could deduce that no pieces would be of substantial value. No one
would loan a valuable piece to a hospital knowing that it's likely going to be
put in a public hallway and potentially touched or damaged many times a day.

~~~
awillen
If you're paying 65k for insurance, the pieces are valuable. They could well
be behind glass or protected in other ways.

~~~
TylerE
I think you're underestimating how big even a "small" hospital can be. That
$65k could easily be covering thousands of works.

~~~
Fomite
This. Our small rural community hospital with two ICU beds is one of the
largest buildings and employers in the area.

------
zjaffee
The article seems to be describing this as if it's a new idea, but at least in
my experience, when you walk through some of the more world class hospitals
(The Cleveland Clinic comes to mind), there is clearly a tremendous amount of
thought in regards to interior architecture.

High ceilings that damp out sound, generally light and soft colors, soft
sounds and diverse art installations.

It's a real shame that when people discuss architecture we largely focus on
the exterior of buildings, but truly the craft is about how people move
through and experience a space. This is especially relevant in the current era
of large glass office towers, which while on the outside tend to seem rather
bland, tend to have a far better interior experience than their external one
puts on.

------
SamuelAdams
I'm curious if this applies to doctor offices too. In Japan, doctor offices
are very barebones: small, cramped, and only has enough space for the doctor
and one patient.

Since Japan has national health care, they spend the minimum amount necessary
to keep these offices operational. So there is no art, no big spaces, no "nice
to have" things.

If a patient only spends 15-30 minutes in that environment, will it really
impact their stress, anxiety and pain?

~~~
nomy99
The article says its for patients "receiving intrusive examinations, surgery,
chemotherapy and emergency care".

So looks like the target of study is high stress cases.

As for cost, no one said you have to install Picasso or brand names. Plenty of
local artists could contribute to wall designs, or even contributions from the
affiliated hospital university's art department.

------
woshea901
I bet filling hospitals with plants would work even better.

~~~
marcosdumay
I was looking if I would have to add this comment...

Ditto for natural ventilation.

------
DaTwant
This was a great initiative in Brisbane, Australia a few years back
[https://www.arts.qld.gov.au/aq-blog/art-in-the-
stairwell](https://www.arts.qld.gov.au/aq-blog/art-in-the-stairwell)

------
stevesearer
I run [https://healthcaresnapshots.com](https://healthcaresnapshots.com) which
publishes photos of healthcare projects from around the world.

We have found that there is a wide variety of styles within healthcare
facilities from bland and cold to colorful and vibrant. My gut tells me that
decision makers don't try new things for a variety of reasons, with one being
that they don't know what the possibilities are that exist.

Articles such as this will hopefully help more people in the right places know
what is possible and worth trying.

------
ineedasername
Is this really what is causing the impact? Or do hospitals that care enough to
budget keeping up nice appearances tend to care enough to manage patients'
health better as well?

------
chiefalchemist
> It also found that 16 out of 19 clinical staff working in the children’s
> emergency department noted that zoo-themed digital art, showing moving
> images of animals, improved young patients’ anxiety, while 15 out of 19
> clinicians said it decreased their pain.

What I find interesting/odd is that the article focuses on the patients. Yet
makes no mention of the art's affect on the doctors and staff

------
rajeshp1986
But as a consumer I don't want to pay for art installations in hospitals in
addition to the enormous hospital bills and healthcare insurance.

------
artur_makly
We've realized that years ago..that's why we launched:
[https://POPteam.io](https://POPteam.io)

There is no better feeling than seeing all those boring spiritually sterile
hallways magically transform into a kaleidoscope of humanity.

~~~
volkk
are you specifically targeting hospitals and working with them? or is this
just a plug for some random startup that does art for other startups

~~~
artur_makly
Random we are not. we've given this a ton of thought when we pivoted from our
mass-customization marketplace:
[https://JuicyCanvas.com](https://JuicyCanvas.com)

Our clients include the full spectrum of businesses and consumers ( Uber,
Burning Man, Private Schools, Medical Clinics, and Families )

~~~
volkk
cool! thanks for the response

------
fataliss
I think it's safe to assume that anything you can do to make the patient feel
more comfortable and take their mind away from their situation will help with
stress and anxiety. It's like the dentist chairs with a netflix table above
your head. You are less likely to be aware of what's going on in your mouth
and be hyper sensitive to the doc's every move if you are distracted by the
latest avengers!

------
roberte3
No, I'm so sick of the local cancer centers rotating corps of musicians. Want
me to get stabby? Keep playing your drum hippie...

~~~
barking
Or if it's an "Art Installation"

------
kwhitefoot
How is this news? Every hospital I have been in recently has art on the walls,
some lots, some not so much but it's there.

Even the dismally badly designed, and laughably misnamed, Great Western
Hospital in Swindon has pictures on the walls, unfortunately few of them are
where the patients spend the most time.

------
phinnaeus
A good friend of mine works with an organization in North Carolina called Arts
For Life [0]. They set up tables where kids can create art, not just have it
on the walls around them.

[0]: [http://www.artsforlifenc.org/](http://www.artsforlifenc.org/)

------
dheera
Pragmatic question: What channels do artists have today to sell art to
hospitals?

The average price of paintings or photograph prints are a tiny fraction of
what they spend on medical equipment, and if it reduces patient stress, it
sounds like an incredibly big win-win.

------
mensetmanusman
Articles like this are interesting when compared to what the wealthy are doing
with the world’s most inspiring art: keeping them locked away in port boxes to
function as wealth management assets.

You would think we could find a way to improve the situation.

------
duxup
After several rounds of kids with hospital stays I really appreciated common
spaces with an assortment of furniture where you could take some time to ...
not feel like you're in such a serious clinical place.

------
sbhn
Filling hospitals with BBC 24 News Broadcasts, raises stress, anxiety and pain

------
munificent
This works outside of hospitals for people who aren't patients too.

------
newsgremlin
The art would need to be something neutral or soothing that doesn't evoke
strong emotions, something pleasant. I'd suggest Bob Ross style paintings to
be the standard.

------
ghosthamlet
I was a patient, be in hospital more then two months, i always thought if
there was classic music echo in the passage or my room, the pain will be less.

------
Insanity
The hospital where I work has art around the halls through which the patients
move. It changes every few weeks and features mostly local artist.

I quite enjoy it.

------
CapricornNoble
This is known to anyone who plays the game Rimworld.

------
kkhire
Definitely notice that the best hospitals in the nation invest in the look and
feel of their hallways with art and positive colors!

------
rwmj
What's the control group? Is it an undecorated hospital or a hospital
decorated to the same standard but without using art?

------
RocketSyntax
Sounds like spurious correlation. Is it that the hospitals that can afford art
can afford better care?

------
freetobesmart
getting sunlight also relieves depression and exercise and eating right will
help with weight losss. This are obvoius things but they are not cures within
themselves.

Im sure there are tons of things hospitals can do to help the surroundings.
Whose going to put up the money?

------
cwills
Being facetious. But does blood splatter count as art?

------
visualstudio
So would filling the hospital with less patients.

------
abootstrapper
I’m sure it probably helps the staff as well.

------
webscalist
It all depends on the type of art.

------
AdmiralAsshat
They should probably qualify what _kind_ of art seems to reduce anxiety. I
could line a patient waiting room with H.R. Giger paintings, but that might
not achieve the same result:

[https://slowsoulburn.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/hr_giger_du...](https://slowsoulburn.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/hr_giger_dune_v1.jpeg)

[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lwoGruDK7ww/TWaPQYPMQ9I/AAAAAAAAAc...](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lwoGruDK7ww/TWaPQYPMQ9I/AAAAAAAAAc0/1tYozs93qZA/s1600/hr_giger_lilith.jpg)

[https://slowsoulburn.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/hr-
giger_00...](https://slowsoulburn.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/hr-
giger_003406131.jpg)

[https://pickadolla.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/elp___h_r_gig...](https://pickadolla.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/elp___h_r_giger_tribute_by_algbral-d3bbkjn.jpg)

~~~
warent
I would be interested to know if this artwork actually would actually have the
same result for certain people, i.e. goths, punks, or other alternative
artists.

~~~
amatecha
I would be pretty stoked to see H.R. Giger artwork in any place (I have
visited his gallery & cafe!), but I think it might be bad to dwell on it for a
long time, since it would probably push you towards thoughts about existential
questions and the nature of humanity, things like that. Probably not the best
subjects for when you're already anxious about possibly-life-threatening
hospital situations, heh.

~~~
myself248
The folks who decorated Denver International Airport would like a word with
you...

[https://www.outtherecolorado.com/gallery/whats-creepy-
apocal...](https://www.outtherecolorado.com/gallery/whats-creepy-apocalyptic-
paintings-denver-international-airport-2/)

~~~
pvaldes
I bet that those are a smart plan for disclosing terrorists and trafficants of
endangered species watching how people reacts to the paintings. There is a lot
of children depicted in the murals. There is also a lot of guilt, and
emotional themes subtly related with a typical work at an international
airport.

Psychological warfare seems the only logical reason for having this paintings
near to customs.

