Objective: To investigate patient, staff, and carer responses to an environmental intervention in an oncology clinic waiting room and evaluate the acceptability of artificial plant materials. Design Postintervention: Cross-sectional survey study.
Setting: Oncology outpatient clinic waiting room located in a metropolitan comprehensive cancer center in Australia.
Main Outcome Measure: Observer ratings of perceived qualities and effects of lifelike (fake) plants while spending time in the waiting room.
Participants: Convenience sample ( N = 143) consisted of 73 cancer patients, 13 staff, 52 carers, and 5 "others" aged between 24 and 89 years ( M = 56, SD = 14.5).
Intervention: Artificial plant arrangements, hanging installations, two movable green walls, and one rock garden on wheels placed throughout the outpatients' clinic waiting room.
Results: Eighty-one percent (115/142) of respondents noticed the green features when first entering the waiting room and 67% (90/134) noticed they were artificial. Eighty-one percent (115/142) indicated "like/like a lot" when reporting their first reaction to the green features. Forty-eight percent (68/143) were positively affected and 23% (33/143) were very positively affected. Eighty-one percent (110/135) agreed/strongly agreed that "The greenery brightens the waiting room," 62% (80/130) agreed/strongly agreed that they "prefer living plants," and 76% (101/133) agreed/strongly agreed that "'lifelike' plants are better than no plants." Comments included mostly positive appraisals and occasional adverse reactions to artificial plants. No significant differences were found between patients', staff, and carers' reactions.
Conclusions: The environmental intervention positively impacted patients', staff, and carers' perceptions of the oncology waiting room environment. Patients, staff, and carers mostly accepted artificial plants as an alternative design solution to real plants.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1937586716677737 | DOI Listing |
Front Robot AI
January 2025
Aveni AI, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
There have been significant advances in robotics, conversational AI, and spoken dialogue systems (SDSs) over the past few years, but we still do not find social robots in public spaces such as train stations, shopping malls, or hospital waiting rooms. In this paper, we argue that early-stage collaboration between robot designers and SDS researchers is crucial for creating social robots that can legitimately be used in real-world environments. We draw from our experiences running experiments with social robots, and the surrounding literature, to highlight recurring issues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Department of Otolaryngology, Cambridge University Hospitals Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Background: Epistaxis is the most common acute disorder managed by ENT services. A 1998 survey (Strachan and England) demonstrated widespread ignorance of correct first aid amongst the public with only 11% of respondents applying correct first aid techniques. Here we repeated and expanded the 1998 study to investigate whether understanding of correct first aid in epistaxis amongst the public and emergency department staff has improved in the last 25 years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Cognitive impairment in older adults is underrecognized in emergency departments. Despite emergency nurses' central role in facilitating ED screening for clinical and social needs, little is known about their perspectives on implementing delirium and dementia screenings. Nurses can provide insights to promote the uptake of these screenings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMJ Open
December 2024
The University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, School of Health Sciences, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Introduction: People experiencing low back pain (LBP) could potentially benefit from multimedia educational resources that integrate self-management strategies and improve awareness of the benefits of staying active and about medications that offer limited benefits, such as paracetamol. Primary care waiting rooms are potential spaces for presenting health promotion resources to improve health literacy through the dissemination of easily accessible health information. This feasibility study aims to explore the feasibility of conducting a large-scale trial to investigate the benefits of multimedia educational resources delivered at outpatient physiotherapy waiting rooms of public hospitals to support patients to participate in physical activity and reduce paracetamol intake for LBP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAm J Emerg Med
January 2025
Department of Emergency Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA; Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
Background: This study aimed to examine how physician performance metrics are affected by the speed of other attendings (co-attendings) concurrently staffing the ED.
Methods: A retrospective study was conducted using patient data from two EDs between January-2018 and February-2020. Machine learning was used to predict patient length of stay (LOS) conditional on being assigned a physician of average speed, using patient- and departmental-level variables.
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