HEARTBRUSH PROGRAM
Patient art sessions.
A calmer, more positive moment of creativity during a hospital stay.
What
At HeartBrush we want to create an environment where patients in hospitals can relax and take a break. We hope to make their stay as comfortable and positive as possible.
Why
Patients are in hospitals for physical injuries, and hospitals are designed to treat wounds of the body, but along with that comes emotional pain and mental trauma. These struggles are often not a primary concern of hospitals, which only serves to make an already difficult time for the patient even worse. This can lead to patients also struggling with Post-Hospital Syndrome (PHS) which is a condition in which patients struggle to return to their daily lives after their hospital stays. During this period patients are vulnerable to further complications and it makes their recovery more difficult. It is caused by high-stress levels and fatigue, as well as changes to sleep schedules and emotional disturbances. Our goal is to minimize these difficulties. While it can be done in many different ways, our method of choice is art. We want to bring peace to patients through creativity and inspiration, allowing them to momentarily escape from the sterile surroundings of the hospital, giving them the opportunity to begin recovering emotionally.
Evidence
Not only do we want to prevent future issues, we want to improve and reduce the patients’ stays as much as possible. A study conducted by Heather L. Stuckey from the Pennsylvania State University Department of Medicine and Jeremy Nobel from the Harvard Department of Health Policy and Management states, “In 1 study, surgery or critical care patients who participated in guided imagery or had a picture of a landscape on their wall had a decreased need of narcotic pain medication relative to their counterparts and left the hospital earlier.” This shows how exposure to art can relieve pain and speed up recovery times, demonstrating the beneficial influence of art in healthcare.
How
We plan to bring art projects directly to their bedsides, small activities that don’t require mental effort, and are relaxing. For example, color-by-numbers, scratch-off art, and doodle art. All these projects allow them to distract themselves from their pain, and take a moment for themselves.
Works Cited
Stuckey, Heather L., and Jeremy Nobel. “The Connection between Art, Healing, and Public Health: A Review of Current Literature.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 100, no. 2, 2010, pp. 254-63. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2008.156497.