Arts and the Medical Staff
by Bivi Franco on 03/21/15
If hospitals are a body administering health, nurses are the hands bringing that healing. In Feel Beautiful Today’s interaction with patients as well as the medical staff, we continually see the important bond that is formed between those being cared for and the caretakers. It is this bond that inspired us to create the program “Joined in Hope.” Joined in Hope allows the medical staff to create one half of a necklace that is then finished by their patient. The completed piece of jewelry symbolizes a patient and nurse’s relationship in which both parties give and receive.
And while nurses do receive, they are always giving. It is this constant giving as well as “physical labor, long shifts, extended work hours, [and ] insufficient breaks…” that make their occupation one of the hardest in the health industry (Sonke 27). Amidst the mounting research that shows “workplace stress, moral distress, and compassion fatigue [as] significant factors that contribute to job dissatisfaction, burnout, and turnover,” there is also evidence surfacing that Art Programs help decrease workplace stress and increase job satisfaction (27). The benefits of Arts in Health affect nurses in two ways: directly and indirectly.
Most nurses go into the field because they care about people, but they are not able to interact with patients the way they would like due to the demands of their job. The beauty of what Feel Beautiful Today does is it makes possible those personal moments that nurses are sometimes too busy to give. As patients work on a positive activity, their mood improves. They become more relaxed. They begin to respond to their treatment better and need less pain medication. All of these positive outcomes affect the nurses taking care of them “by making work easier, enhancing nurse/patient communication, and increasing fulfillment as they see the patient having a more positive overall experience in their hospital stay” (34).
Nurses are also directly impacted by Art Programs. When nurses participate with Feel Beautiful Today to help their patients work on a bracelet, it allows them to interact with the patient in a deep, meaningful way. It strengthens the bond they have with their patient and allows them to participate in a fun, relaxing activity while on the clock. Similarly, with Joined in Hope, nurses get the opportunity to experience flow themselves as they handmake a piece of jewelry. It provides an outlet to process emotionally and release stress. Perhaps the nurses say it best. Below are quotes from the medical staff that have both witnessed FBT in action as well as participated in Joined in Hope.
“Thank you. Beautiful program. Well organized, very professional. Wonderful process yielding great results.”
“FBT is so great. It gives our patients who are away from normalcy the chance to just be a kid again and have an amazing connection with their mothers.”
“What a ray of sunshine for someone going through cancer. Every woman needs something pretty.”
It is our hope and desire at FBT to continue to provide programs that help support and supplement the brave and necessary work the hospital staff are doing. We understand just how important they are to the success of the patients’ health but also see them for what they are: people in need of hope and encouragement too.
References:
Sonke, Jill et al. “The Effects of Arts-in-Medicine Programming on the Medical-Surgical Work Environment.” Arts & Health 7.1 (2015): 27–41. PMC. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.
