Creating micro-restorative environments for healthcare professionals

据世界卫生组织（WHO）称，压力是“21世纪的健康流行病”。在世界范围内，医疗保健是一个压力很大的行业，专业人员在压力下工作，暴露在压力和情绪和认知疲劳中，可能导致倦怠。在英国，国民医疗服务体系（NHS）尤其容易出现这些问题，员工工作时间长，休息时间短，接触户外自然的机会有限。由于人员短缺、高使用需求和财政限制，NHS目前正面临挑战。因此，帮助卫生专业人员处理这一危机对于避免因健康状况不佳而进一步缺勤至关重要。为专业护理人员提供最好的环境对于患者的康复非常重要，因为健康的护理人员可以帮助患者恢复健康。否则，倦怠的医生不仅会感到疲惫，还会对病人缺乏同理心，把病人当作物品对待，自尊心也会降低。为员工提供一个恢复性的环境是避免这种结果的一种方法。恢复性环境是医疗保健专业人员可以去的地方，即使只是在工作日的短时间内，放松和恢复，以防止压力和疲劳。文献表明，大自然具有许多恢复功能，能够帮助个人恢复情感和认知，防止疲劳和压力水平的增加。从这项研究中，一些知名公司，如b谷歌，苹果或亚马逊，已经在他们的工作场所实施了自然环境，以使员工受益。在医疗保健专业人员的工作环境中加入一些自然因素是否会对他们自己的健康和福祉产生影响，从而影响他们的压力水平，从而避免他们疲劳和倦怠？这个博士学位的目的是通过在工作场所创造微恢复空间来帮助医疗保健专业人员减压，避免倦怠，这是一种与自然的短暂感官接触，比如通过窗户，沉思绘画，听音乐或看电视。将确定适合医疗机构和专业人员的自然环境的潜在恢复品质，并利用它们来建议设计一个专门的空间，在那里工作人员可以在身体和心理上进行恢复。研究问题包括：。对医疗保健专业人员来说，大自然的好处及其恢复潜力是什么？什么样的恢复性环境可以创建或应用于医疗工作场所？暴露在模拟的自然环境中对工作中的医疗保健专业人员有恢复作用吗？通过接受自然有利于恢复压力的个体，这项研究将应用和测试自然是否也可以恢复医疗保健专业人员，如果自然可以在医疗保健设施中实施。一项定性研究将与卫生保健专业人员进行，以确定他们的工作相关的压力源和当前的应对策略。这项研究将集中在研究和识别压力源，在那里大自然可以有有益的特性，以帮助防止进一步的压力和疲劳；然后探索并提出一些潜在的“以自然为中心”的解决方案。对于每种解决方案，将对有压力的学生进行实验研究，以测试潜在的改进。如果可行，所有已证实的改善学生压力水平的自然因素将在专门建造的“豆荚”中实施，并在医疗环境中进行测试。

Stress is the "Health Epidemic of the 21st Century" according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).Healthcare is a highly stressful profession worldwide with professionals working under pressure and being exposed to stress and to emotional and cognitive fatigue, potentially resulting in burn out. In the UK, the National Health Service (NHS) is particularly prone to these issues, with staff working long hours, having short breaks and limited access to outdoor nature. The NHS is currently facing challenging times due to a shortage of staff, high demand of use, and financial constraints. Therefore, helping health professionals dealing with this crisis is fundamental to avoid further absenteeism due to ill health. Providing the best environment possible for professional carers is important in order for the patients to get better, as healthy carers help patients get back to good health. Otherwise, not only suffering from exhaustion, the doctors who are burn-out have a lack of empathy for their patients, treating them like objects and also suffer from low self-esteem.Providing a restorative environment for staff is one method of avoiding such outcomes. Restorative environments are places where healthcare professionals can go, even if only for short periods of time during their working day, to relax and restore, to prevent stress and fatigue. Literature shows that nature has a number of restorative properties, being able to help individuals with emotional and cognitive restoration and with the prevention of increased fatigue and stress levels. From this research, some high profile companies, such as Google, Apple or Amazon, have implemented natural environments into their workplaces to benefit their employees. Could the incorporation of some natural elements to the work environment of healthcare professionals have an impact on their own health and well-being, therefore on their stress levels, avoiding them to be fatigued and burned-out?The aim of this PhD is to help healthcare professionals de-stress to avoid burn out by creating micro-restorative spaces in their workplace, that is brief sensory contact with nature, as through a window, in contemplating a painting, in listening to music or on a television. Potential restorative qualities of natural environments suitable for healthcare settings and professionals will be identified and utilised to suggest a design for a dedicated space where staff can recover physically and psychologically.The research questions include:. What are the benefits of nature and their restorative potentials for healthcare professionals?. What kind of restorative environments can be created or applied to healthcare workplaces?. Can exposure to simulated natural environments be restorative for healthcare professionals at work?By accepting that nature is beneficial to restore stressed individuals, this research will apply and test if nature can also be restorative for healthcare professionals and if nature can be implemented in healthcare facilities. A qualitative study will be conducted with healthcare professionals to identify their work related stressors and current coping strategies. This research will focus on studying and identifying the stressors where nature can have beneficial properties in helping prevent further stress and fatigue; and then on exploring and suggesting some potential "nature-centred" solutions. For each solution, an experimental study will be conducted on stressed students to test the potential improvements. If feasible, all confirmed natural elements that improved students stress levels will be implemented in a purpose built "pod" and tested in a healthcare environment.