Healthcare Design - October 2020 - 39

The

Center

MAKE IT PERSONAL
The pandemic has reinforced the importance of
supporting caregivers with spaces that address
the tolls of the job By Debra Levin

OVID -19 brought to light, in a new way, the exacerbating

toll on physical and mental health that frontline workers in healthcare can experience. These individuals
were already working in stressful environments before
the pandemic hit, with jobs that require lightning-fast
reﬂexes and the ability to make life-and-death decisions
while delivering an abundance of care and compassion.
Additionally, healthcare staff work long hours and frequently have very little time for breaks. An article this past March in U.S.
News & World Report ranked the most stressful jobs, with 11 of the 22 jobs
on the list related to the healthcare profession.
Our industry has always been aware of the stressors on staff and has
worked to design hospitals and healthcare facilities with respite areas
where staff can go to destress and recharge. What this global pandemic has
shown us, however, is that these environments
aren't always done well or consistently enough.
MANY FACILITIES HAVE
Seven months into this virus, it's being reCREATED AD HOC SPACES
ported that healthcare workers are likely to experience post-traumatic stress disorder due to
DESIGNED TO HELP STAFF
their experiences during COVID-19, as well as
COMBAT THE STRESSORS
high rates of burnout and depression. Additionally, we know that many care providers have the
OF THE JOB.
additional burden and fear of bringing the virus
home to their families. The news each day brings fresh stories of the emotional toll and sacriﬁces caregivers are making, from moving out of their
homes to sending their children to live with family and friends, to help
keep loved ones safe.
In response, the World Health Organization has urged hospitals to
think of the pandemic as a long-term situation and to give workers regular breaks and rotate them out of high-stress positions. Most healthcare
institutions have begun offering services to their employees to help relieve some of the day-to-day burdens, like providing meals and child and
pet care. And although many facilities report that they struggle with having no signiﬁcant space for healthcare workers to take breaks, some have
created ad hoc areas within their facilities designed speciﬁcally to combat the stressors of the job.

One example is New York City's Studio Elsewhere, which, in partnership with the Abilities
Research Center at the Icahn School of Medicine in New York, launched "recharge rooms."
These spaces immerse Mount Sinai Health System workers in an environment with thoughtful approaches to music, sound, scent, and
lighting to support rehabilitation, human performance, stress resilience, and mental health.
Surveys of 480 frontline healthcare workers
who spent 15 minutes in the new environment
found staff members averaged a 60 percent reduction in self-reported stress levels.
There's also been more home-grown solutions, such as a nurse at Dignity Hospital in
the Central Coast area of California who created two relaxation rooms using items from her
own home to provide colleagues with a tranquil
space for respite and quiet. The rooms, which
are getting significant use, are located across
from the critical care unit and include greenery,
aromatherapy, white noise, massage chairs, and
inspirational reading materials.
At Cleveland's University Hospitals Conner
Integrative Heath Network, a team was created to provide more emotional support for its
frontline staff, many of whom were suffering
from compassion fatigue. Private relaxation
rooms were provided as an alternative to the
standard break room or busy cafeteria, where
most went to get away for a moment, and were
ﬁlled with eye masks, aromatherapy scents, and
stress balls as a way to encourage caregivers to
momentarily switch their focus from caring for
their patients to caring for themselves.
As we move forward, it will be vital to gather
the lessons learned on how the built environment functioned during this critical time,
not just in the patient care spaces but in the
spaces that provide support for families and
staff. COVID-19 exposed our vulnerabilities to
global events and may foreshadow future challenges to our healthcare system from probable
reoccurrences. By analyzing, cataloguing, and
sharing the solutions we used to survive this
experience, we can be better prepared to thrive
when faced with these challenges again. a
Debra Levin is president and CEO of The Center
for Health Design. She can be reached at DLEVIN@
HEALTHDESIGN.ORG.

OCTOBER 2020

Healthcare Design - October 2020

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