Evaluating impacts of integrating visual access to nature in nurses' work environments in deep interior spaces

Date

2022-08

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Abstract

This research emphasizes the need for restoration in workspaces and explored the impacts of prolonged exposure to the simulated nature scenes on the frontline practitioners. The research question focuses on how does simulated nature in the ED nurses' workspace improve their cognitive, physiological, psychological, and organizational outcomes?

Nurses’ stress is a persistent issue and often impedes the quality of patient care, teamwork, collaborative needs, and job satisfaction, among others. This ultimately manifests in reduced patient safety and satisfaction, job turnovers, and compromised organizational outcomes. Although existing literature emphasizes several alternatives to reduce stress, such as high-quality break areas, mindfulness techniques, napping strategies, and downward substitution of work; none of them have been sufficiently effective. Nurses tend to spend over 95% of their time on the unit busy with patient care, team collaboration, and avoid restorative breaks. The theoretical framework of Attention Restoration Theory (ART) explains that being surrounded by nature or biophilia can help restore attention and reduce stress. Hence, nature simulations were incorporated into nurses’ workspaces throughout the course of this research.

This study was conducted in a hospital located in the Southwestern United States, and the sample population consists of dayshift nurses. The quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest investigation was conducted in the Emergency Department (ED) of a hospital located in the Southwestern United States, and the sample population consists of dayshift nurses. The outcomes included Reaction Time (RT), Correct (CR) and Incorrect Responses (IR), Systolic (SBP) and Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP), Acute Stress (AS), absenteeism, and participant feedback. The data were collected in three instances, baseline (T0), one-month exposure (T1), and two-months exposure (T2) to the simulated nature.

Results indicated statistically significant (p < 0.05) improvements in the reaction time (4.5%), diastolic blood pressure (3%), mean arterial pressure (2.5%), and absenteeism (88%) after a month-long exposure to the simulated nature. However, the acute stress declined by (2%, n.s.). The operational changes during the T2 affected several variables and revealed unfavorable outcomes.

Overall, nurses’ cognitive, physiological, and organizational outcomes improved after experiencing the simulated nature for 30 days. The research findings support incorporating biophilic simulation in nurses’ workplaces or windowless environments. Unlike several recreational exercises, designing restorative healthcare workspaces is a one-time and long-term investment, which can be valuable to the clinical staff and other occupants.


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Keywords

Healthcare workspace, Biophilia, Nursing, Workspaces, Nature Access, Heart Rate, Attention, Blood Pressure

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