Guide to Problem Purpose and Critique of One Study

Patient Care

Effectiveness of the 'Quiet Time Program' in the Acute Care Setting: An Evaluation

Extant literature on patient care in the healthcare context has progressed to include different dimensions and factors that influence the quality of healthcare given to patients. While some research studies center on the social environment of healthcare institutions, such as the quality of care given by healthcare and nursing staff, there are also studies that highlights the importance of the physical environment in influencing patients' perception about the quality of healthcare given to them. Further, there are studies that establish a link between the physical environments of hospitals with the well-being of patients, a critical link that could determine a patient's improvement in his/her overall health. This relationship between patient wellness and physical environment of hospitals is illustrated in Gardner's (2009) study on the creation of a "therapeutic environment" for patients in acute care setting. In this particular study, the creation of the therapeutic environment for patients is in the form of the "quiet time" program, which allows patients to experience a quiet physical environment for a specific time period everyday. Gardner's experimental research tested the effectiveness of the program through patient's improved health condition.

The relationship between patient care/wellness and a 'therapeutic environment' through a quiet time program are the specific factors of the study that the proposed research will build itself on. The proposed study will look at the effectiveness of the quiet time program when implemented in the acute care setting in the U.S. (as Gardner's study was implemented in Australia). The study will assume a dominantly quantitative research design, using experimental research to establish the effectiveness of the program in improving patients' health in the acute care setting. Research questions or hypotheses that will be explored and determined in the study are the following: (i) determine the relationship between the physical environment of the hospital and patient's health improvement; (ii) determine the relationship between "quiet time" or noise level in hospitals and patient's health improvement; and (iii) provide a comparative analysis of patients' health improvements between the group who underwent "quiet time" program and those who did not.