scholarly journals Nurses’ Satisfaction With Patient Room Lighting Conditions: A Study of Nurses in Four Hospitals With Differences in the Environment of Care

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 110-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert G. Davis ◽  
Lindsay J. McCunn ◽  
Andrea Wilkerson ◽  
Sarah Safranek

Purpose: The present study aims to contribute to current knowledge about nurses’ perceived importance of lighting in patient rooms and to compare these perceptions across different ages, work shifts, (day and night), and environments of care (traditional and contemporary). Background: Creating an environment of care in patient rooms that successfully balances energy efficiency concerns with the holistic needs of patients, families, and caregivers poses a major challenge for future lighting systems. This study adds to a growing evidence base on the effects of lighting on nurses’ job performance, job satisfaction, and overall perceptions of the environment. Method: Survey responses from 138 participants working in medical–surgical units in four hospitals were analyzed using a mixed-methods approach, with three of the hospitals having lighting systems characterized as providing a traditional environment of care (TEC) and the other hospital having lighting systems characterized as providing a contemporary environment of care (CEC). Results: No significant differences were found based on age or work shift, but several significant differences were found between participants working in the hospital with a CEC and those working in hospitals with a TEC. Participants from the hospital with a CEC lighting system consistently reported higher lighting quality, fewer patient complaints, and less need for supplemental lighting than the participants from the three hospitals with TEC lighting systems. Conclusion: The results of this study provide evidence that innovative lighting approaches and technologies are worth considering as an investment by hospital administrators looking to improve perceptions of the patient room environment.

Author(s):  
Ethan Graves ◽  
Robert G. Davis ◽  
Jennifer DuBose ◽  
Gabrielle C. Campiglia ◽  
Andrea Wilkerson ◽  
...  

Purpose: This study explores how aspects of lighting in patient rooms are experienced and evaluated by nurses while performing simulated work under various lighting conditions. The lighting conditions studied represent design standards consistent with different environments of care—traditional, contemporary, and future. Background: Recent advances in lighting research and technology create opportunities to use lighting in hospital rooms to improve everyday experience and provide researchers with opportunities to explore a new set of research questions about the effects of lighting on patients, guests, and staff. This study focuses on the experience of nurses delivering simulated patient care. Method: Perceptions of each of the 13 lighting conditions were evaluated by nurses using rating scales for difficulty of task completion, comfort, intensity, appropriateness of the lighting color, and naturalness of the lighting during the task. The nurses’ ratings were analyzed alongside qualitative reflections to provide insight into their responses. Results: Significant differences were found for several a priori hypotheses. Interesting findings provide insight into lighting to support circadian synchronization, lighting at night, the distribution of light in the patient room and the use of multiple lighting zones, and the use of colored lighting. Conclusion: The results of this study provide insight into potential benefits and concerns of these new features for patient room lighting systems and reveal gaps in the existing evidence base that can inform future investigations.


Author(s):  
Jennifer DuBose ◽  
Robert G. Davis ◽  
Gabrielle Campiglia ◽  
Andrea Wilkerson ◽  
Craig Zimring

Objective: This study explores whether “future” lighting systems that provide greater control and opportunity for circadian synchronization are acceptable to participants in the role of patients. Background: Tunable, dimmable light emitting diode systems provide multiple potential benefits for healthcare. They can provide significant energy savings, support circadian synchronization by varying the spectrum and intensity of light over the course of the day, address nighttime navigation needs, and provide user-friendly control. There is an emerging understanding of the important visual and nonvisual effects of light; however, important questions remain about the experience and acceptability of this “future” lighting if we are to adopt it broadly. Methods: Volunteer participants (34) performed a series of tasks typical of patients, such as reading or watching a video, in a full-scale simulated inpatient room. Each participant conducted these tasks under 12 lighting conditions in a counterbalanced order that included varying illuminance levels, correlated color temperatures (CCTs), and in a few conditions, saturated colors. The participants rated each lighting condition on comfort, intensity, appropriateness, and naturalness. Results and Conclusions: The participants found that conditions with CCTs of 5,000 K and higher were significantly less comfortable and less natural than conditions with lower CCTs. Conditions with lighting distributed in multiple zones in the patient room were viewed more favorably than a traditional overbed configuration. The participants in this simulated patient study reacted negatively to colored lighting on the footwall of the room but found a mixture of warmer and cooler luminaire CCTs acceptable.


2019 ◽  
pp. 22-27
Author(s):  
Cenk Yavuz ◽  
Ceyda Aksoy Tırmıkç ◽  
Burcu Çarklı Yavuz

Today the number of office workers has reached to an enormous number due to the fast-growing technology. Most of these office workers spend long hours in enclosed spaces with little/no daylight penetration. The lack of daylight causes physiological and psychological problems with the workers. At this point lighting systems become prominent as the source and the solution of the problem. Photometric flicker event which arises in the lighting systems can sometimes become visible and brings a lot of issues with it. In this paper, an experimental work has been done to investigate the effect of flicker. For this purpose, the flicker values of 3 different experiment rooms for different lighting conditions and scenarios have been measured and a questionnaire study has been carried out in the experiment rooms with 30 participants. In conclusion, the effect of the flicker event on the volunteers have been classified and some methods have been proposed not to experience flicker effects.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2590
Author(s):  
Dhondup Namgyal ◽  
Kumari Chandan ◽  
Sher Ali ◽  
Ajaz Ahmad ◽  
Maha J. Hashim ◽  
...  

In the modern research field, laboratory animals are constantly kept under artificial lighting conditions. However, recent studies have shown the effect of artificial light on animal behavior and metabolism. In the present study on mice, following three weeks of housing in dim light at night (dLAN; 5lux) and complete darkness (DD; 0lux), we monitored the effect on body weight, daily food intake, anxiety-like behavior by employing the open field test, and expression of the period (PER1) gene. We also studied the effect of oral administration of different concentrations of curcumin (50, 100, and 150 mg/kg) for three weeks in the same mice and monitored these parameters. The exposure to dLAN had significantly increased the anxiety-like behavior and body weight possibly through the altered metabolism in mice, whereas exposure to DD caused increased anxiety but no significant difference in weight gain. Moreover, the expression of the PER1 gene involved in sleep was also found to be decreased in the aberrant light conditions (dLAN and DD). Although the treatment of curcumin had no effect on body weight, it ameliorated the anxiety-like behavior possibly by modulating the expression of the PER1 gene. Thus, alteration in the light/dark cycle had a negative effect on laboratory animals on the body weight and emotions of animals. The present study identifies the risk factors associated with artificial lighting systems on the behavior of laboratory animals and the ameliorative effects of curcumin, with a focus on anxiety-like behavior.


2018 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 28-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Randell ◽  
Rachel McNamara ◽  
Leena Subramanian ◽  
Kerenza Hood ◽  
David Linden

AbstractBackgroundA core principle of creating a scientific evidence base is that results can be replicated in independent experiments and in health intervention research. The TIDieR (Template for Intervention Description and Replication) checklist has been developed to aid in summarising key items needed when reporting clinical trials and other well designed evaluations of complex interventions in order that findings can be replicated or built on reliably. Neurofeedback (NF) using functional MRI (fMRI) is a multicomponent intervention that should be considered a complex intervention. The TIDieR checklist (with minor modification to increase applicability in this context) was distributed to NF researchers as a survey of current practice in the design and conduct of clinical studies. The aim was to document practice and convergence between research groups, highlighting areas for discussion and providing a basis for recommendations for harmonisation and standardisation.MethodsThe TIDieR checklist was interpreted and expanded (21 questions) to make it applicable to neurofeedback research studies. Using the web-based Bristol Online Survey (BOS) tool, the revised checklist was disseminated to researchers in the BRAINTRAIN European research collaborative network (supported by the European Commission) and others in the fMRI-neurofeedback community.ResultsThere were 16 responses to the survey. Responses were reported under eight main headings which covered the six domains of the TIDieR checklist: What, Why, When, How, Where and Who.ConclusionsThis piece of work provides encouraging insight into the ability to be able to map neuroimaging interventions to a structured framework for reporting purposes. Regardless of the considerable variability of design components, all studies could be described in standard terms of diagnostic groups, dose/duration, targeted areas/signals, and psychological strategies and learning models. Recommendations are made which include providing detailed rationale of intervention design in study protocols.


Author(s):  
Victoria Bream ◽  
Fiona Challacombe ◽  
Asmita Palmer ◽  
Paul Salkovskis

This chapter provides detailed background information on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) that will give the therapist a clear understanding of current knowledge about the context and causes of this problem. Research evidence on the epidemiology of OCD, impact, and causal factors is presented. Here we introduce the cognitive-behavioural model of OCD, offering a discussion of the key elements of this model. The chapter will also include case examples to illustrate different manifestations of OCD (including contamination, checking, rumination, just-right feelings) and common processes that are key in the maintenance of obsessional problems (for example, reassurance-seeking and magical thinking). This chapter reviews the evidence base for the treatment of OCD, including medication, and identifies cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) as the recommended treatment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Findling ◽  
Larissa Hauer ◽  
Thomas Pezawas ◽  
Paulus S. Rommer ◽  
Walter Struhal ◽  
...  

Cardiac autonomic dysfunction (CAD) has been reported in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). This systematic review summarizes the evidence for the types and prevalence of CAD in MS patients, as well as its association with MS type, disease characteristics, fatigue and immunotherapies used to treat MS. The analysis revealed that CAD is correlated with pathophysiological processes of MS, can trigger serious cardiovascular complications that may reduce life expectancy, and may have implications for treatment with immunotherapies, especially fingolimod. Numerous mainly small case–control or cohort studies have reported various measures of CAD (particularly heart rate variation) in MS patients, showing higher rates of abnormality versus controls. A smaller number of studies have reported on cardiac autonomic symptoms in MS, including orthostatic intolerance/dizziness in around 50% of patients. CAD also appears to be associated with disease duration and to be more common in progressive than relapsing–remitting MS. However, although a substantial evidence base suggests that assessing CAD in people with MS may be important, standardised methods to evaluate CAD in these patients have not yet been established. In addition, no studies have yet looked at whether treating CAD can reduce the burden of MS symptoms, disease activity or the rate of progression.


2020 ◽  
pp. 2000528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy SC Hinks ◽  
Stewart J Levine ◽  
Guy G Brusselle

Monoclonal antibodies targeting IgE or the type-2 cytokines IL-4, IL-5 and IL-13 are proving highly effective in reducing exacerbations and symptoms in people with severe allergic and eosinophilic asthma respectively. However, these therapies are not appropriate for 30–50% of patients in severe asthma clinics who present with non-allergic, non-eosinophilic, “type-2 low” asthma. These patients constitute an important and common clinical asthma phenotype, driven by distinct, though poorly understood pathobiological mechanisms. In this review we describe the heterogeneity and clinical characteristics of type-2 low asthma and summarise current knowledge on the underlying pathobiological mechanisms, which includes neutrophilic airway inflammation often associated with smoking, obesity, occupational exposures and may be driven by persistent bacterial infections and by activation of a recently-described IL-6 pathway. We review the evidence base underlying existing treatment options for specific treatable traits which can be identified and addressed. We particularly focus on severe asthma as opposed to difficult-to-treat asthma, on emerging data on the identification of airway bacterial infection, on the increasing evidence base for the use of long-term low-dose macrolides, a critical appraisal of bronchial thermoplasty, and evidence for the use of biologics in type-2 low disease. Finally we review ongoing research into other pathways including TNF, IL-17, resolvins, apolipoproteins, type I interferons, IL-6 and mast cells. We suggest that type-2 low disease frequently presents opportunities for identification and treatment of tractable clinical problems and is currently a rapidly evolving field with potential for the development of novel targeted therapeutics.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
James D. Ford ◽  
Nicole Couture ◽  
Trevor Bell ◽  
Dylan G. Clark

This paper identifies and characterizes current knowledge on climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability for Canada’s northern coastline, outlining key research gaps. Warming temperatures and increased precipitation have been documented across the northern coast, with the rate of sea ice decline ranging from 2.9% to 10.4% per decade. Storm intensity and frequency is increasing, and permafrost is warming across the region. Many of these changes are projected to accelerate in the future, with in excess of 8 °C warming in winter possible under a high-emission scenario by 2081–2100. Vulnerability to these changes differs by region and community, a function of geographic location, nature of climate change impacts, and human factors. Capacity to manage climate change is high in some sectors, such as subsistence harvesting, but is being undermined by long-term societal changes. In other sectors, such as infrastructure and transportation, limitations in climate risk management capacity result in continuing high vulnerabilities. There is evidence that adaptation is taking place in response to experienced and projected impacts, although readiness for adaptation is challenged by limited resources, institutional capacity, and a need for support for adaptation across levels of government. Priority areas for future research include (i) expanding the sectoral and geographic focus of understanding on climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability; (ii) integrating climatic and socio-economic projections into vulnerability and adaptation assessments; (iii) developing an evidence base on adaptation options; and (iv) monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of adaptation support. Cross-cutting themes for advancing climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability research on the north coast more broadly include the need for greater emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches and cross-cultural collaborations, support for decision-orientated research, and focus on effective knowledge mobilization.


Author(s):  
Jan Berssenbru¨gge ◽  
Carsten Matysczok ◽  
Klaus Po¨hland ◽  
Thomas Weber ◽  
Peter Ebbesmeyer

For the development of new automobile lighting systems, special raytracing methods are needed to create physically correct simulations of the illumination properties. For further evaluation, test drives with physical prototypes are still necessary. But changing weather and lighting conditions make the test drive results not fully comparable. Therefore, a high number of test drives have to be performed. This leads to a costintensive and time-consuming development process. Virtual test drives at night combined with a realistic simulation of a lighting system’s illumination characteristics can minimize the number of real nightdrives and allow reproducible testing conditions as well as comparable results. A close-to-reality simulation poses high demands on real-time methods for calculating and displaying illumination data in a virtual scene. Furthermore, the geometry model of the scenery which is to be illuminated needs to be adapted to fulfill these demands. This paper introduces a real-time illumination method for use in a nightdrive simulation which illuminates scenery models using coarse polygon meshes.


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