The healing hospital model and its role in patient care and recovery

Healing hospital provides its patients with a safe environment in terms of healing qualities that are related with interpersonal care and healthy interaction between health care providers and patients. It creates an environment that recognizes, supports and promotes the self healing abilities of the patients. A healing hospital helps the patients to achieve physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being. In addition to technical competency such a hospital provides its patients with kindness, compassion, spirituality and relationship. (Zarren 1-5)

The increase in technical advancements in the field of health and medicine has enabled the health care providers to understand and treat almost all the diseases but it has been proved by a number of evidences that if the element of kindness, compassion, understanding, care and relationship are not present between the care taker and the one whose being taken care of then an influential element of healing is left behind. If the elements of spirituality are integrated in the health care and the reality of therapeutic relations are being maintained between the health care providers and receivers then this can improve the effectiveness of health care system to great impacts. In addition to that, this combination can also elevate the level of satisfaction of the patients, the staff and the doctors as well. ("Spiritual Care Matters" 13)

Components of Healing Hospitals

A healing hospital is quite different from a general brick and mortar hospital. There are three main components of a healing hospital. These components are listed below; (Eberst 1-3)

A Healing Physical Environment

Healing hospitals have an environment in which the staff members, who fulfill the responsibility of care givers, not only take care of the patients but they also interact and engage with the families of the patients. A loving, pleasing, aesthetic and compassionate environment is being created in the healing hospitals; as such an environment promotes effective healing process. A healing environment enables the patients and the families to manage and handle the stress and depression that is associated with illness. Noise is a barrier that hinders the healing process the most. A healing hospital provides its patients with quite and peaceful environment so that they can get plenty of sleep as the human body performs most of the healing functions during sleep and cells also generate faster at that time. (Eberst 1-3)

In such an environment cleaning machines are equipped with silencers in order to prevent them from making excessive noise. Overhead paging is avoided and is used only in case of emergencies in such an environment. In addition to that, nurses and other staff members carry wireless phones to stay in connection with the doctors, patients and the families of the patients. Such a noise free and comfortable healing environment not only facilitates the healing process of the patients but it also leads toward the development of a stress less and comfortable environment for the doctors and other employees and hence there is a reduction in the degree to which the staff members may incur an error. (Eberst 1-3)

A Culture of Radical Loving Care

The third and the most crucial component of a healing hospital is a culture of radical loving care. If a hospital is equipped beautiful furniture, aesthetic decorative items and commendable interior but it lacks the environment of care love and compassion and the staff that is committed to this philosophy then it would be regarded as a pretty hospital but not a healing hospital. Healing hospitals try to promote a healing procedure that follows a holistic approach. And by using this approach they not only cater the physical needs of the patient but also fulfill his or her emotional needs. (Eberst 1-3)

The staff employed in healing hospital not only has medical abilities but it is also capable of providing the patients with loving care. The leaders in such a hospital acknowledge the work of the staff members and reinforce them through rewards and performance appraisals. In healing hospitals, the patients allow the staff members to enter in their life when they are confronting one of the most stressful times of their life and the staff in turn tries to change that stress full time to a positive one through kindness, loving care, compassion, competitive services and commitment to excellence. (Eberst 1-3)

Challenges in Creating a Healing Environment

Although, creation of a healing environment is a very noble idea but it is confronted with a number of challenges. The first challenge that the creation of healing environment confronts is financial constraint as the in order to create proper healing environment the hospitals have to equip themselves with advanced technology and they also have to integrate the work design and environment with the technology. All of these steps require heavy financial investment in technology and work design. In addition to that, this type of system is confronted with increased legal barriers and the staff of the hospital also acts as a barrier in the implementation of this system as the staff of the hospital is organized in a hierarchy in a traditional hospital setting, whereas, this system treats all the staff members as equal and this is unacceptable for the top management. Moreover, the traditional hospitals cured the diseases of the patient on the basis of proven scientific methods, whereas, this system depends on methods that are based on beliefs and are not scientifically proven, thus this fact acts as a psychological barrier for the implementation of healing system. (White 6)

Verse that Supports the Healing System

One of the Biblical verses which supports the concept of the healing hospital is 'Matthew 14:14'. This verse states that Jesus was filled with compassion for a great number of people and a spirit for healing their sick. This verse supports the concept of the healing hospital as its main objective is to create a loving environment in order to heal its patients both physically and emotionally. In these systems the care givers are able to provide the patients with special care and treatment so that they can heal physically, emotionally and spiritually. In addition to that, when the patients feel loved and cared for they heal in a faster and effective manner. (Loyd 1-8)