 credit: Wave Illumination
Why this matters
There is a reason to believe that behaviour could be impacted by a lack of R9. Lab-based studies have shown an impact of the removal of stimulus chromaticity. This is particularly the case for red-green colour, the removal of which differentially impacts visual object recognition ability. The explanation for this has its roots in evolutionary theory. More generally, there is a range of findings demonstrating an impact of the colour of light on human performance. For example, colour can impact short-term memory and problem solving – people perform better in `warm’ rather than `cool’ and artificial `daylight’ white lighting. Females and males have been found to show differing levels of positive and negative mood based on illuminance and/or CRI levels.
How to apply this knowledge
One way that we can consider the impact of lighting is to take regular surveys of the environment and tailor the light in line with accepted norms and conventions. Certain areas in the hospital may need to be prioritised – surgical areas and pharmacy environments for example. Across the hospital as a whole there are many benefits to be realised – for example:
- The usability of equipment can be improved through considering the properties of the illumination (e.g. errors can be reduced).
- The colour rendering potential of various light sources can have a clinical impact from the perspective of detecting jaundice, skin lesions, as well as for the use of various diagnostic tests. There are also various therapeutic benefits.
- Night-shift staff may be in a better mood if they are working under light shifted towards red, rather than blue or white light. There is potential to consider varying the properties of illumination to support shift work.
- For inpatients – lighting can interact with recovery time – mental health patients staying in sunny rooms have been found to recover faster: (an average stay of 16.9 days for sunny rooms compared to 19.5 days for those in dull rooms). Patients may recover faster if they have access to daylight.
- Ultraviolet lighting appears to be an effective way to lower the risk of infection in the operating room during total joint replacement surgery. Light can be used to provide very specific clinical benefits.
Conclusion
We set out to explore the impact that environmental factors have on healthcare settings and consider how these factors can be optimised to support patient and staff well-being. We found that there was an opportunity for changing the light to provide benefit – for example shifting the colour temperature or raising / lowering the luminance. Hospitals can therefore get more out of the resources that they have by considering the design of the environment (e.g. happier, productive staff, less mistakes, faster throughput).
Posted by Chris
Principal – Human Factors & Ergonomics, Sector lead Healthcare
Languages spoken:
English (native).
The last thing that inspired me: Seeing the London Air Ambulance land.
My dream project: A medical tricorder.
My obsession: Running.
Image credit Stock, Wave IlluminationPlumber since 1982....
Friendly, good work, good price.
Replaced a water heater.
They repaired a collapsed sewer line which caused three toilets to back-up. The owner came out with the crew and remained on site for quite a bit. They provided various price options, were quick and did a really good job with trying to re-slope the yard.
Plumbing. Drain Pipe Installation.The entire ancient parish lay upon the Upper Chalk which in this region is capped with clay-with -flints. (fn. 8) In the northern part of the parish the land rises to about 700 ft., and in the southern part falls to about 550 ft. John Aubrey, writing towards the end of the 17th century, remarked that in spite of its high, and apparently bracing, situation, Pertwood was frequently enveloped in mist and was not a healthy place. (fn. 9) In 1962 there were two woods in the northern part of the former parish but many of the trees of Pertwood Wood (sometimes called Wylye Wood) had been cut. In both parts there were plantations of very large beech trees forming windbreaks. Such plantations stretched along the former northern and southern parish boundaries and another sheltered the church and farm from the west.
On Pertwood Down, to the west of the ancient parish, there are numerous barrows and clear traces of Celtic field systems, but none of these lies within the area of the ancient parish. In 1962 the main road from Shaftesbury to Warminster in the extreme south-west corner was the only road within the former parish. But the point between the apexes of the two triangles of land comprising the former parish is the meeting place of a number of tracks running over the downs, and through this junction ran the Roman road from the Mendip lead mines in the west to Old Salisbury in the east. In 1962 a footpath led from the farm to Chicklade, the nearest village, about 2 miles away.
Pertwood Manor stands facing east about 100 yds. from the church. It presumably stands upon the site of an earlier house, which was the home of the Mervyns in the 16th century, and possibly of earlier lords of the manor. John Mervyn in his will, proved in 1601, bequeathed to his brother, Philip, the right to live at Pertwood for life 'if he will take it, and orderly and quietly behave himself in the same'. (fn. 14) The present (1962) house dates from the 18th century but has been altered in the 19th and 20th centuries, so that what was a quite modest farmhouse has become a more sophisticated residence. It is a stone house of two stories with attic. The east, and main, front of 3 bays has 4-pane sash windows with drip moulds, and a half-glazed double door in the centre.
The Pertwood estate of the Earls of Gloucester was held of them by the St. Quintins. It may have formed part of the fee in Wiltshire held of the honor of Gloucester by Herbert St. Quintin in 1210–12. (fn. 18) In 1242–3, 1299, and 1324 a John St. Quintin held 1/5 fee there of the honor. (fn. 19) After the last date no further trace has been found of the St. Quintin interest in the manor.
The living was discharged in the 18th century when it was valued at £28, (fn. 53) and a grant of £6 10s. a year was made from Queen Anne's Bounty. (fn. 54) There were approximately 10 a. of glebe. In 1677 the glebe arable was distributed between the East, Middle, and West Fields and there was a close of meadow. (fn. 55) The tithe map of 1838 shows the glebe lying in two lots of roughly equal size in the southern part of the parish just below the farmstead. (fn. 56) All tithes were paid to the rector and were commuted in 1838 for a rent charge of £74. (fn. 57) In 1677 there was a rectory, or parsonage, house with barn and stable adjoining. (fn. 58) This is not mentioned in the glebe terrier of 1704 (fn. 59) and at the end of the 18th century the rector lived in Hindon. (fn. 60) In 1835 the house was still there but was said to be uninhabitable. (fn. 61) It was, however, later restored and in 1919 was let, with the glebe lands, to the tenant of Pertwood Farm. (fn. 62) In 1962 a small farm cottage stood on the site of the former parsonage house just to the south-east of Pertwood Manor.
Until the beginning of the 19th century, the church of ST. PETER was a small, stone, 12th-century building with a round-headed door on the south side. (fn. 70) It was restored in c. 1812 by the lord of the manor, and in 1822 there was said to be no feature of antiquity left except a holywater stoop to the south of the altar. The chancel at the later date was separated from the nave by a round-headed arch. (fn. 71) Late in the 19th century the church was completely rebuilt in flint with stone dressings. It comprises nave, chancel, and small north aisle. In spite of their long connexion with the manor there are only two memorials to the Mervyn family: one to Sheldon Mervyn (d. 1734), the other to his sister Mrs. Mary Pouldon (d. 1747). There is a wall tablet to Richard Ricward, lord of the manor after 1810 who restored the church. In 1908 the bowl of a 14th-century font was discovered buried in a nearby copse and was restored to the church at the expense of the then lord of the manor, Percy Scawen Wyndham. (fn. 72) In 1553 there were two bells. In 1963 there was but one small bell probably of late 13th-century date. (fn. 73) In 1553 a chalice weighing 2 oz. was left for the parish and ½ oz. silver taken for the king. In 1963 there was a silvergilt chalice with an indistinct hall-mark date, thought to be 1676 and a paten probably of the same date. (fn. 74) The oldest surviving register begins in 1811.
In 1838