Operationalizing the concept of the optimal healing environment in clinical settings: the importance of "readiness".
Creation of an optimal healing environment (OHE) in a clinical setting is a multifaceted undertaking and subject to a wide variety of developmental influences. While comprehensive definitions for OHE might provide sufficient guidance for communicating philosophy and values and developing patient-practitioner processes, direction for creating a supportive administrative structure or establishing an evaluation/research strategy is less defined. Operationalizing the concept of OHE by breaking it down into components such as values, structure, process, and measurement of outcomes, proved to be a useful framework for analyzing the evolution of our integrated care program. Future OHE initiatives may benefit from using this type of framework to assess readiness among cocreators prior to development and implementation, as a guide for ongoing evaluation of an OHE postimplementation and as a basis for comparing OHEs across a variety of clinical settings.
Findlay
Barbara
B
Integrative Healthcare Consultant and School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. barbarafindlay@shaw.ca
Verhoef
Marja
M
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D003142:Communication; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000592:standards*; D006379:Helping Behavior; D006694:Holistic Health; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D019222:Mind-Body Relations, Metaphysical; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000592:standards; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011788:Quality of Life; D014481:United States