Simulated ‘hospital’ highlights key concepts

In response to research on the biological and psychological impact of lighting on healthcare outcomes, as well as feedback from patients and clinicians, Trumpf has developed a number of simulated hospital environments at its new showroom in Luton, which aim to address key issues encountered in ICUs, as well as operating rooms and neonatal units. The units are designed to provide a realistic demonstration of concepts aimed at: improving the patient experience, enhancing recovery, increasing surgeon comfort and performance, as well as offering opportunities for shared learning and training. On arrival at the simulated hospital environment, visitors enter a room designed to mimic an ICU, which has been designed to reduce the psychological impact associated with the patient’s experience of intensive care. Environmental factors resulting in sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation and abnormal lighting conditions have all been indicated by researchers as factors that may contribute to the development of “postoperative delirium,” explained managing director, Oliver Law. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as: “intensive care syndrome”. There are also a number of studies that suggest that these factors may slow the speed of recovery and that improvements to the patient’s environment could have positive health benefits.

Lighting and ICUs

In fact, a growing body of literature has emerged during the last decade highlighting the important role of lighting in healthcare outcomes and the ICU environment at the Luton facility has taken on board this data in its overall design. A study by Bendetti et al (2001), for example, reported that hospital stay was around 3.67 days shorter in those admitted to rooms facing the east, which received brighter natural light, than those facing the west. A paper in the British Journal of Medical Psychology, published in the same year, also raised the issue of lighting in ICUs as one of a number of factors that affect a patient’s psychological wellbeing when recovering from life-threatening conditions. The paper claimed that between 10% and 20% of people in intensive care or high dependency units developed psychological problems as a result of their experience – ranging from anxiety, nightmares and flashbacks, to delusions. Dr Ian Bennun, a clinical psychologist at Torbay Hospital at the time of writing the paper, told the BBC: “Part of the problem is the fact that, in an ICU, there is no day or night; there is constant noise and many patients have marked sleep disturbance.” He pointed out that lights, in some cases, are not dimmed at night and, in units where there are no windows, patients have no idea what time of day it is.1 In ICUs, bright lights that are constantly on disturb the patients’ natural circadian rhythms just as much as the frequent monitoring of their vital functions, which is also undertaken at night and usually requires turning on all the lights. Most patients lack private space and the chance to be alone.