University Hospitals Case Medical Center has installed a super-duper, fancy-schmancy, state-of-the-art television system called Skylight in its patient rooms. On Skylight, a patient can cruise the Internet, choose from an endless array of movies and programs, play games, view patient-education videos, order food or tell hospital managers right away if his or her room isn't clean.
But what do patients tune in to most?
A nine-minute video of a babbling brook.
Robert Kramer, a UH videographer, shot the video in the Cleveland Metroparks as part of “distraction therapy.” The goal: to allow patients to mentally break out of the hospital room, which helps them to experience less stress and, perhaps, less pain.
Research shows there might be something to that.
In a 2003 study by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, patients undergoing flexible bronchoscopy under sedation reported significantly reduced pain when they listened to a tape of nature sounds before, during and after the procedure. The researchers concluded that doctors should consider this nonintrusive strategy in addition to standard pain medicine for patients undergoing painful, invasive procedures.
Distraction therapy could translate into a more pleasant hospital stay, too, says Ronald Dziedzicki, UH senior vice president of operations and general manager: “Being in a hospital is hard enough as it is.”