This questionnaire helped me understand how healthcare professionals are affected by their work environment. Also, I gathered their opinion on how stressors, found in a hospital environment can alter patient’s emotions and affect their recovery.

32 people took part in this questionnaire - 90.63% being female and 9.38% male and their age ranged from 18 to 64. As these questionnaire aimed to target the healthcare professionals, the vast majority of the participants were Nurses and Healthcare Support Workers. When asked how much their physical surrounding affected their work, on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the highest and 5 the lowest, 43.75% answered 1.  The main factor, influencing their answers, was the lack of natural light. According to them, this could help reduce stress levels.  Especially for those who work long hours and seem to start and finish work in the dark. Noisy and confined departments such as theatres can be quite depressing and stressful also. Out of the 32 participants 3.13% did not feel affected at all mainly due to their part-time schedule.

 

Focusing on the major stressor in a hospital environment, I asked participants to describe how much noise affects their performance at work. Again, the score used was 1-5 with 1 being the highest and 5 the lowest. 40.63% confirmed that noise results in poor performance as it decreases their concentration abilities thus impacting in the level of care provided to patients which in turn can be worrisome to them. 9.38% do not think that noise impacts their work performance.

A series of statements, referring to noise levels at work, were presented and followed by questions. 59.38% strongly agreed that excessive noise can increase stress levels, emotional burn-out and exhaustion in hospital staff. This can further prove that noise is a major element in health care professionals’ stress at work.

In order to assess the relevance of an architectural design structural input, it was asked if the implementation of a private staff area, for meetings, debriefing and patient handover, could help reduce noise, for staff and patients, and improve staff communication. 61.29% strongly agreed that it could bring the noise levels down. Vast majority of participants strongly agreed that healthcare establishments should have maximum access to day-light, the reason being that it could improve job performance, productivity and satisfaction as well as decrease stress levels amongst staff.  A minority of 3.13% believe that access to day-light is of no relevance.

Just as with the first questionnaire, I wanted to find out how important it is for staff to have access to areas of relaxation. 30 out of the 32 believe that green spaces help reduce stress and anxiety in staff and patients and 2 remained impartial to this statement. When asked if the quality of a physical surrounding could affect patient outcome and care quality, 30 out of the 32 strongly agreed. 7 agreed with the statement and 2 remained impartial. Healthcare institutions can be quite daunting, even for the people working in it. So I am not surprised that professionals and patients alike crave for spaces which allow them to feel human again. Therefore, it can be argued that healthcare architectural design should break from the institutional image by creating spaces that relate more to peoples’ needs thus allowing them to stay, in a way, however small, in control of their lives and emotions. This subject takes me to my next series of questions which was related to how architectural design should aim to help patient recovery and staff satisfaction.

 

 

The first statement was devised to ascertain if noise could have a negative impact in a patient’s physical and psychological wellbeing to which 31 out of the 32, that answered, strongly agree with. The statement that followed referred to the benefits of light in patient recovery. 22 out of 32 strongly agreed and 9 agreed with the statement, leaving 1 impartial participant.

It was interesting to discover that all participants agreed that patients need to keep their identity and individuality as well as have comfort as it can greatly aid in their recovery. It was suggested that they have access to a private area in which they can receive visits from loved ones as well as have rooms big enough so that relatives can stay overnight.

New hospital design layouts are changing patients’ experiences by offering more single rooms as oppose to the multi-bed bays.  My next three statements focused in those changes as I wanted to find out, from a healthcare professional point of view, how important it these are for them and the patients. The primary statement helped me evaluate the significance of single rooms in the upkeep of patient privacy and dignity. Also, could this, in any way, improve staff/patient communication. The results showed that 19 out of 32 strongly agreed with it, 11 only agreed, 1 remained impartial and 1 disagreed with the concept. The second statement asked about the importance of single room standardization as way of reducing patient disorientation and improving staff performance. 19 out of 32 strongly agreed, 9 agreed and 4 were impartial to it. I also queried if single rooms could decrease transfer numbers and aid in infection control as well as increase social support for patients.  The answers varied as 16 strongly agreed, 10 agreed and 5 remained impartial.  With the third statement I assessed the importance of a green space in patient recovery. 20 of the participants strongly agreed, 10 agreed and 2 remained impartial.

 

“I believe healthcare needs a huge shove forward-need to recognize space and surroundings should be included in holistic healthcare. Too many NHS hospitals now look like prison wards. Dull, dreary and dirty.”

(Nurse Survey Participant, 2016)

 

In order to find out which spaces could encourage staff to perform efficiently, help them relax and also aid with patient recovery, I presented them with a series of images of different environments. More open and relaxing spaces proved more popular as 19 out of 32 participants related to it.  According to them, they would like having access to nature and light and a calm place that would allow them to think and reflect. A place that would enable them to escape the “…prison like spaces we're forced to work in…The moral at work would definitely be uplifted.” (Nurse Survey Participant, 2016).

 

This survey provided me with a better understanding of patients and staff needs when coping with intensive situations in a healthcare institution.