The Healing Hospital paradigm focuses on the Holistic approach to health care (Chapman, 2007). Many of the Healing Hospitals and other clinical facilities have made the transition from treating illness only to an over-all healing approach. The Healing Hospital paradigm addresses the healing of the whole person, spirit, soul and body (Chapman, 2007). The over-all approach includes the well being of the patient, cognitive, emotional and the relationship to spirituality. Healing a word used by the Anglo-Saxon which means to make whole (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 2003).
In today’s hospital environment, our main focus is placed on technology, medications, and treating a diagnosis (Mendocino Coast District Hospital, 2009). The mission of a healing hospital is to improve health. There are very few hospitals that have made it their mission to heal and not just treat the signs and symptoms of illness. Healing is more than simply an academic exercise.
Healing Hospital concept specifies three key components:
1. A Healing Physical Environment
2. The Integration of Work Design and Technology
3. A Culture of Radical Loving Care
A Healing Physical Environment includes the type of care the patient is receiving and the conditions that a patient is exposed to when receiving treatments, the aesthetics of the hospital and the noise level in patient care areas (Eberst, 2006). For a hospital to promote healing, it needs to provide a quiet environment that allows patients to sleep.
We have learned that providing a loving and compassionate environment that is aesthetically pleasing and promotes healing, and patients perform the most repair during sleep (Eberst, 2006).
Integrating Work Design and Technology is the second key component of a Healing Hospital (Eberst, 2006). Working with hospital building designers skilled in the purpose of a Healing Hospital at its core, hospitals that are designed in a traditional healing manner