TESS Install Virtual Window and Skylight at Clementine Churchill Hospital, Harrow
10 September 2007
Therapeutic Environmental SolutionS (TESS) have installed two MRI-EL backlit units at the Clementine Churchill Hospital in Harrow, UK. One of the screens will act as a 4ftx4ft virtual window in the hospital's MRI suite, the other as a 4ftx6ft virtual skylight in the new CT suite. Each screen has been developed to display over a hundred photo-realistic panoramas which will serve to create a more pleasant working environment for staff as well as hasten patient recovery time.
The link between a patient's recovery time and their immediate environment has been documented since the Hellenic era, with pioneering medical academics such as Galen and Avicenna observing that exposure to natural and pleasant stimuli, such as a panoramic views, can greatly expediate a patient's healing process.
More recently, studies have grounded these observations in scientific fact. The most notable of these studies was documented by R S Ulrich in the Journal of Environmental Psychology in 1984. Ulrich observed that patients exposed to views of natural environments, such as trees and fields, took an average of seven days to recover, whilst patients who's view afforded nothing more than a plain brick wall took an average of nine days to recover.
Unfortunately, it is not always practical or possible for hospitals, especially those based in urban areas, to provide these views naturally.
TESS have solved this problem by creating lifelike display screens which can easily be installed and maintained, creating a pleasant environment and lifting the spirits of patients and hospital staff alike.
