Renewal Room Provides Respite to Patients and Staff
From left, Donna Sullivan, Jim Roche, Alice O’Brien, patient Mary Norton, Karen Hanrahan and Denise Fay gather in the Renewal Room on Shapiro 8.
Karen Hanrahan, BS, RN, encourages each of her patients and their family members to visit the Renewal Room, a serene space on Shapiro 8 reserved for meditation and reflection.
“They find it very tranquil, relaxing and calming,” said Hanrahan, who visits the room herself every chance she gets.
Designed to meet the needs of patients, families and staff, the room draws people in with its positive energy, the soothing sound of flowing water from a table-top fountain, soft lighting and bamboo—seven stalks meant to bestow good health.
“When we moved to Shapiro from the Tower, we wanted to set an intention of taking the best care of our staff so that they can best take care of our patients,” said nurse manager Alice O’Brien, MS, RN. “This room is a place for them to relax, be alone, decompress and meditate.”
The Renewal Room is not to be confused with the staff break room, a busier spot for staff to eat and talk. “This room is a sacred place where people just sit quietly, pause and reflect,” said nurse educator James Roche, MEd, BSN, RN. “It has a much different feel than the break room.”
The room provides a perfect setting for the multidisciplinary care team to gather for vascular surgery rounds. “We all sit here for 15 minutes and talk about patient care in a very calming environment,” O’Brien said. “Everyone participates.”
A recent addition to the room was a pair of folding screens that ensure privacy when reiki and massage therapists visit the floor as part of the reiki volunteer program with BWH Integrative Care.
The room, which has undergone reiki itself, already is having an impact on stress reduction, but nurses plan to study the impact of integrative care and alternative therapies. Santina Wilson, BSN, RN, Mary Absi, BSN, RN, and Heather Hogan, BSN, RN, received a Lily Kravitz Nursing Studies Award this year to examine whether alternative and complementary therapies reduce nurses’ stress levels and improve the quality of patient care. In drafting their proposal, the nurses learned through research that the concept of complementary therapies is beginning to be integrated into work environments around the country at both private companies and hospital settings.
Beginning in 2010, monthly training sessions will be offered in the Renewal Room to nurses interested in learning massage, therapeutic touch, reiki, reflexology and other complementary therapies. Staff also will be offered the opportunity to participate in these complementary therapies. Wilson, Absi and Hogan will conduct pre- and post-surveys to determine whether participants’ stress levels were reduced.
In the meantime, the room continues to offer respite, especially to patients and their family members during stressful times. One woman, whose husband was dying at a young age of heart disease, sat in the room often. When her husband passed away, she gave nurses a prayer plant for the room.
“Many people come in here and say they can feel the positive energy,” said Donna Sullivan, operations supervisor for Shapiro 8.
Patient Mary Norton certainly did. “I love this room,” she said, pointing out the fountain and bamboo. “Everything in here is elegant and simple but to the point.”
O’Brien frequently receives feedback from patients and their families about how happy staff seem and how well they work as a team.
“In this room, you have time to think about the next thing you’re going to do for your patients,” said Denise Fay, BSN, RN. “The room really sets the intention of caring that has been set for the floor among nurses.”
Roche added, “You feel refreshed when you come out of the room. Renewed.”