Light is beneficial for infant circadian entrainment: an actigraphic study
2012
Journal of Advanced Nursing
Journal Article
Issue 8
Volume 68
Pages 1738–1747
Author(s): Tsai, S., Thomas, K. A., Lentz, M. J., Barnard, K. E.
When babies have their days and nights mixed up, it puts stress on the parents, disrupting their sleep, causing fatigue, and even leading to depression. Ambient light regulates the sleep-awake cycle in adults, however, it is less clear what role it plays in developing the circadian rhythms of infants. This paper takes a look at how light is related to infants’ circadian rest-activity patterns.
Added February 2014
Threading Needles in the Dark: The Effect of the Physical Work Environment on Nursing Practice
2009
Critical Care Nursing Quarterly
Journal Article
Issue 1
Volume 32
Pages 70–74
Author(s): Simmons, D., Graves, K., Flynn, E. A.
People’s ability to perform reliably and safely relies on the physical work environment. Nowhere is this connection more critical than in healthcare environments, which can be noisy, dimly lit, and chaotic. The United States Pharmacopeia addresses this issue in its draft general chapter of standards, “Physical Environments that Promote Safe Medication Use,” which specifies work environment guidelines to support efficient and safe medication use.
Added February 2014
Sleep in Acute Care Settings: An Integrative Review
2000
Journal of Nursing Scholarship
Journal Article
Issue 1
Volume 32
Pages 31–38
Author(s): Redeker, N. S.
Despite three decades of research, little is known about sleep in acute care settings. Yet, for many adults in these settings, disturbed sleep is common. This literature review looks at studies of hospitalized patients in intensive care and medical surgical units.
Added February 2014
The impact of health facilities on healthcare workers’ well-being and performance
2009
International Journal of Nursing Studies
Journal Article
Issue 7
Volume 46
Pages 1025–1034
Author(s): Rechel, B., Buchan, J., McKee, M.
There is extensive research on the effect of healthcare environments on patients. But much less is known about health facilities’ impact the staff, even while there is growing recognition of the need for healthy working environments. Poor healthcare working environments can relate to the nature of the work—long and antisocial hours, little administrative support, physical labor, and, sometimes, violence.
Added February 2014
Implementing a Pediatric Obesity Care Guideline in a Freestanding Children’s Hospital to Improve Child Safety and Hospital Preparedness
2012
Journal of Pediatric Nursing
Journal Article
Issue 6
Volume 27
Pages 707–714
Author(s): Porter, R. M., Thrasher, J, Krebs, N. F.
Over the past three decades, the number of children who are overweight has grown, with the greatest increase among those categorized as severely obese. Providing healthcare for these children is complicated, yet there is little information about the patient, provider, and institutional needs for the severely obese pediatric patient.
Added February 2014
Nurses and stress: recognizing causes and seeking solutions
2013
Journal of Nursing Management
Journal Article
Issue 4
Volume 21
Pages 638–647
Author(s): Happell, B., Dwyer, T., Reid-Searl, K., Burke, K. J., Caperchione, C. M., Gaskin, C. J.
Nursing is a stressful job. This occupational stress can have negative consequences in terms of nurses’ physical and psychological health as well as for healthcare organizations and the community. Yet little is known about identifying sources of occupational stress and reducing it.
Added February 2014
Outpatient pharmacy redesign to improve work flow, waiting time, and patient satisfaction
1990
American Journal of Hospital Pharmacy
Journal Article
Issue 2
Volume 47
Pages 351-356
Author(s): Pierce, R., Rogers, E., Sharp, M., M. Musulin, M.
The open pharmacy approach tested increased the efficiency of the pharmacy operation, reduced patient waiting time, and increased patient and pharmacist satisfaction with their experiences at the pharmacy.
Added February 2014
Nurses’ Perceptions of How physical Environment Affects Medication Errors in Acute Care Settings
2011
Applied Nursing Research
Journal Article
Issue 4
Volume 24
Pages 229–237
Author(s): Mahmood, A., Chaudhury, H., Valente, M.
Medication errors in hospitals occur for a number of reasons, stemming from staff and organizational issues to aspects of the physical environment. Errors include omissions, giving the wrong type or amount of medication, and giving the wrong patient unneeded medication. Research has indicated that a significant amount of these errors are avoidable.
Added February 2014
Parental Views of the Social Environment of an Outpatient Bone Marrow Transplant Clinic
2004
Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing
Journal Article
Issue 5
Volume 21
Pages 264-270
Author(s): Pritchett, J. K., Buckner, E. B.
Researchers learned that when the waiting room was eliminated and all patients and caregivers at a pediatric bone marrow transplant (BMT) clinic waited and received treatment in a single room with all the other patients and caregivers (except for in certain specific situations, as noted below), a social environment developed that was, the authors state, “complementary to the technical aspects of medical care.”
Added February 2014
Access and care issues in urban urgent care clinic patients
2009
BMC Health Services Research
Journal Article
Author(s): Scott, D. , Batal, H. , Majeres, S, Adams, J. , Dale, R. , Mehler, P.
Patients generally seek care in urgent care settings because doing so is more convenient than alternative care options, and the care provided is timelier.
Added February 2014
Nursing Staff, Patient, and Environmental Factors Associated With Accurate Pain Assessment
2010
Journal of Pain and Symptom Management
Journal Article
Issue 5
Volume 40
Pages 723-733
Author(s): Shugarman, L., Goebel, J., Ianto, A., Asch, S., Sherbourne, C., Lee, M., Rubenstein, L., Wen, L., Meredith, L., Lorenz, K.
Caregiver assessments of patient pain are important for diagnostic and other reasons. Distracting environments when vital-sign measurement during intake were linked with inaccurate estimates of pain by nurses and nursing support staff (for example, licensed vocational nurses).
Added February 2014
Adding additional grab bars as a possible strategy for safer hospital stays
2010
Applied Nursing Research
Journal Article
Issue 1
Volume 23
Pages 45-51
Author(s): Tzeng, H.-M., Yin, C.-Y., Schechtman,S.
Inpatient falls are the most commonly reported incidents in hospitals, yet they are largely avoidable and, therefore, an unsolved issue in patient care. It comes as no surprise that patient falls tend to occur most frequently in patient rooms, patient bathrooms, and hallways—the places in which patients spend the majority of their time during their hospital stay. Falls are attributed to breakdowns in communication between patients and caregivers, inadequate assistance, and also the design of the physical environment.
Added February 2014
Servicescape: Physical environment of hospital pharmacies and hospital pharmacists’ work outcomes
2008
Health Care Management Review
Journal Article
Issue 2
Volume 33
Pages 156-168
Author(s): Lin, B.Y.-J., Leu, W.-J., Breen, G.-M., Lin, W.-H.
Researchers have studied the healthcare work environment from a number of angles, from an organizational behavior perspective honing in on motivation and reward, to an occupational and environmental perspective concerned with comfort and ergonomics, to a pathogenic perspective interested in exposure to disease. The idea of a “servicescape” has arisen in healthcare marketing to investigate the impact of the physical environment of service settings on employees’ psychological states and perceptions.
Added February 2014
Improving the quality of palliative care for ambulatory patients with lung cancer
2005
British Medical Journal
Journal Article
Issue 7503
Volume 330
Pages 1309-1313
Author(s): Von Plessen, C., Aslaksen, A.
This is a case study based at a Norwegian university hospital where people receive treatment for lung cancer. Many changes were made to processes at the treatment facility and a few to the physical plant. The interventions, in total, “increased satisfaction for patients and staff, reduced waiting time, and reduced variability of waiting time,” according to the paper.
Added February 2014
Computerized mental health assessment in integrative health clinics: A cross-sectional study using structured interview
2007
International Journal of Mental Health Nursing
Journal Article
Issue 6
Volume 16
Pages 441-446
Author(s): Leung, S., French, P., Chui, C., Arthur, D.
People who completed computerized mental health assessments while waiting in integrative health clinics better understood their own mental health after completing the assessment and had positive feelings about using a computer to assess their mental health.
Added February 2014
Same-Handed and Mirrored Unit Configurations: Is There a Difference in Patient and Nurse Outcomes?
2011
Journal of Nursing Administration
Journal Article
Issue 6
Volume 41
Pages 273-279
Author(s): Watkins, N., Kennedy, M., Ducharme, M., Padula, C.
Awareness of the impact of healthcare facility design on a number of diverse patient and staff outcomes is growing. From patient recovery time, satisfaction, and comfort to nursing staff efficiency, error rates, and distraction, varied outcomes are being linked to environmental conditions and design attributes in hospital settings. Inpatient unit configurations, specifically same-handed configurations vs. mirrored units, are a particular area of interest for researchers, with implications for practitioners and patient care. Same-handed configurations, which standardize all rooms within a unit such that they are all identical, may allow for reduced noise as headwalls are no longer shared.
Added February 2014
Randomised Controlled Trial of Music on State Anxiety and Physiological Indices in Patients Undergoing Root Canal Treatment
2008
Journal of Clinical Nursing
Journal Article
Volume 17
Pages 2654–2660
Author(s): Lai, H., Hwang, M., Chen, C., Chang, K., Peng, T., Chang, F.
People who were able to listen to soothing piano music on headphones during root canal procedures were less anxious than people who did not listen to the music during the same procedure.
Added February 2014
Non-Direct Patient Care Factors Influencing Nursing Workload: A Review of the Literature
2011
Journal of Advanced Nursing
Journal Article
Issue 10
Volume 67
Pages 2109–2129
Author(s): Myny, D., Van Goubergen, D., Gobert, M., Vanderweek, K., Van Hecke, A.
For decades, researchers have been studying nursing workloads, yet amount of complaints about the high workload keep climbing. Because workload contributes to nurses’ job satisfaction, burnout, and stress, it is important to get a better idea of how nondirect patient care elements impact nurses.
Added February 2014
Garden Walking for Depression: A Research Report
2010
Holistic Nursing Practice
Journal Article
Issue 5
Volume 24
Pages 252–259
Author(s): McCaffrey, R., Hanson, C., McCaffrey, W.
Millions of people experience depression every year, including the elderly, where it can be particularly debilitating as it effects physical, mental, and social functioning. Access to the outdoors, and increased sunlight, might help treat depression, as well as improve morale, self-confidence, cooperation, social interaction, and physical functioning for residents of a geriatric facility.
Added February 2014
Efficacy of controlling night-time noise and activities to improve patients’ sleep quality in a surgical intensive care unit
2011
Journal of Clinical Nursing
Journal Article
Issue 3-4
Volume 20
Pages 396–407
Author(s): Li, S., Wang, T., Wu, S. F. V., Liang, S., Tung, H.
In the intensive care unit (ICU), noises, continuous lighting, and constant care-related activities disrupt patients’ sleep. Patients also may struggle to sleep because they are in an unfamiliar environment, feel isolated, are in pain, have various tubes or other equipment to deal with, as well as just general treatment activities.
Added January 2014
