I learned about this product on Twitter (if you’re not on Twitter yet, you’re missing out on a lot of the conversation!) and I thought it was too great not to pass it on.
BEDSCAPES “turn cubicle curtains into a nurturing therapeutic patient-friendly bedside comfort zone for the relief of pain, anxiety and insomnia.” BEDSCAPES are special bedside curtains used to create a “comfort cocoon” in patient rooms that have no visual access to the outside world or to nature. Patients can choose from a number of calming nature scenes printed on fire-retardant washable fabric, and to further enhance the experience, can choose to listen to recorded sounds (water, birdsong, wind) associated with the nature scene to complete the wonderful ambiance.
It has been proven (see the research on the BEDSCAPES site) that healing sights and sounds enhance recovery and reduce pain. Less days in the hospital? Less pain drugs? Better outcomes? I think so.
The BEDSCAPES President and CEO Yusaif August talks about the process to create a better patient experience:
As the work evolved, I decided to create improvements in the bedside environments so that patients would begin to feel a sense of “place” and of their own “space” and have an environment that helped them to relax in.
I was fortunate in finding the work of Roger Ulrich, PhD, which showed that patients with views of nature had better health outcomes than those who looked out at brick walls. I got in touch with Dr. Ulrich, who generously taught me how to choose nature scenes that were “biophilic” i.e. likely to tap a restorative response in people. I then found a way to get photomurals of these scenes indelibly printed on fabric that could then be hung on a cubicle curtain. I was again fortunate in being able to find a printing process that created images that were both launderable and fire retardant. Very fortunate! And thus, BEDSCAPES were born.
Here are some other ways to use BEDSCAPES according to their website:
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For loved ones, friends and business colleagues when they are facing a tough time:
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Surgery, trauma, outpatient chemotherapy, rehab
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Extended convalescence at home
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Entering a nursing home
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The final days in a hospice
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When they are joyfully expecting the birth of a child
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When they are simply stressed out
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At work or at home (hung on the wall like a quilt, with the sound played through a cassette or CD player)
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The busy executive working late hours and weekends
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The CPA around tax time
- Here’s my idea: I think BEDSCAPES should also be issued along with unemployment checks!
They even have a BEDSCAPE in a tote that volunteers and congregational visitors can bring with them to any bedside that needs the comfort. Does your organization have BEDSCAPES for your patients in your inpatient, outpatient or ambulatory care facility?
Photo credit courtesy of BEDSCAPES website.
