Saturday, April 18, 2015

Week 8 Creative Practice

Arts in Medicine in Practice                  What a Great Experience !!! 


Intro to Care Environments
 Navigating Care Environments
Intro to Professional Competences
Understanding the Experience of Illness
Communication and Cultural Competency  
Programs Models and Community
Settings Needs Assessment Resource Mapping 
Program Planning and Implementation 

 


There are many take away moments from this class, especially when the Arts in Healthcare programs step into a healing institution and provide positive changes in the environment, community, and patients.
I could see the adaptation of my creative practice model in collage used as an educational component to a health class. For example learning can be enhanced for the subject of sleep hygiene, medication management, exercise, good nutrition etc.   The educator working along with the AIR could collage weekly the topic reviewed in the process of learning some of these topics.   If not used as a learning tool it may also be used for pleasure as an independent study for the patient on their favorite things, landscapes, people etc.  The opportunities are endless; collage can be less threatening to some because the skill level is minimal and it provides for good conversation and socialization of the patient.  
To reflect why I choose this project, sure it’s a reminder of this class and the things I’ve learned, but I thought it would be the type of creative process I could pick up at any time as we are awaiting the birth of a granddaughter who is due April 23.  The last baby came three week early so this grandmother wanted a clean, dry, portable (work it anywhere, anytime) creative process.  We are still waiting on our baby and I must admit this piece got me through the last part of the trimester. Drawing designs now everywhere I go, maybe I’m addicted.
Art has the power to communicate and educate, giving it’s growing role of significance in health institutions.  In addition shows that the arts can reduce patients’ use of medication and length of stay in the hospital, and improved compliance with recommended treatments_ offering substantial savings in healthcare cost (State of the Field Committee, 2009). Recognizing this first hand Arts in Medicine can reduce the need for pharmacology. The side effects of sedative medication are a tremendous offender in the relationship of patient safety.
 Art and design do play a critical part in environments. Evidence-based practice in design of the clinical care facilities are becoming a standard. Judging healthcare environments as spaces for healing provides a healthy concept to include those elements required for healing. A well designed space may actually allow miracles to happen by providing opportunities for personal growth in ways of inspiration and rejuvenation.  Exploring the power of the environment or the "landscape" of children's lives--the array of settings they inhabit--and analyzes the dimensions and qualities of children's environments.(Greenman, Jim, 1988)It appears that extended and open views from various windows are responsive to children’s needs”(McLaren, Coralee, 2009) . Spaces are crucial/imperative in order to come to terms with emotionally stressing experiences from daily work, and in order to be prepared for future challenges, such as new tasks or patients with a complex diagnosis.(Liveng, Anne, 2010)
Art and music are naturally healing by themselves, and when brought to the bedside or outpatient clinic, artistic expression can serve to promote wellness and bring meaning to the experience of illness.  The most sophisticated health care centers in the United States are embracing such initiatives by inviting artists and musicians to work with patients and literally transform the hospital and ambulatory outpatient environments. (Center for the Arts in Medicine, 2015).
In addition to healing, the program provides an opportunity for patients to simply tap into their creative natures and for a brief moment experience a distraction from pain and a renewal of their psychological and physiological states. ( Pompilio, n.d.) Enhance the patient experience through healing art activities.  The enhanced patient experience will be measured by how the patient felt after the healing art activity & over-all rating of care & loyalty.(Blair L. Sadler & Annette Ridenour, 2009) Modify environment that is unfavorable by participating in the creative process and engaging in a painting experience, all safety precautions will be honored. (“Why We Need the Arts in Medicine,” n.d.) Patient is allowed time to express feeling of powerlessness.  (The Power of Art: Can creativity cure the sick?, n.d.)
"It's the whole emotional and perceptual context you are in," says Nanda, "When you're in a hospital, its high stress. When we are high stress, we go back to our primal need to be soothed." (Nanda, et.al. 2012)                                                          

 References
Blair L. Sadler, & Annette Ridenour. (2009). Transforming the Health Experience Through the Arts. San Diego,California: Aesthetics, Inc.
Greenman, Jim. (1988). Caring Spaces, Learning Places: Children’s Environments That Work. Redmond, WA: Exchange Press, Inc.
Liveng, Anne. (2010). Learning and Recognition in Health and Care Work: An Inter-Subjective Perspective. Journal of Workplace Learning, Vol. 22(Iss: 1/2), pp.41–52.
McLaren, Coralee. (2009). Analyzing Qualitative Data about Hospitalized Children: Reflections on Bodily Expressions (pp. 140–154). University of Toronto.
State of the Field Committee. (2009). State of the Field Report:Arts in Healthcare. Washington,DC: Society for the Arts and Health.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Week 7 Creative Practice Post



  Needs Assessment and Resource Mapping

 


     This is the composition for week seven which I will later add to my big collage.  I find that using text with design helps me to retain material better.  Remembering back when I was a little girl we had a minister who did chalk talks for the congregation.  He actually drew from an easel as he delivered the sermon and the topic of the sermon always related to the subject matter of his drawing.  This man was a great influence to me; I actually used his technique in high school once but with song injected instead of talk. When teaching I have always believed that the student retains more if approached from many different areas that attract the senses in different ways of learning.  

      Collage is good especially for those individuals who may be timid about doing more direct hands on forms of art work.  The participant will simply tear the paper leaving a raw edge then gluing the picture to a heavier stock paper. I practiced this activity after clearance through the hospitals infection control nurse, but wanted to learned more about using magazines and if they could be a vehicle for cross-contamination of bacteria.

     This is what I found out in one study conducted in 2011 regarding the survival of bacterial pathogens on paper and bacterial retrieval from paper to hands.  The objective was to determine by laboratory investigation how long bacterial pathogens can survive on office paper and whether bacteria can be transferred from hands to paper and back to hands in a "worst-case scenario. "The four tested organisms showed differences in length of survival depending on environmental room conditions, but were stable on paper for up to 72 hours and still cultivable after seven days. Test organisms were transferred to paper, survived on it, and were re-transferred back to hands.(Institute for Hygiene and Environmental Medicine, Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany. nhuebner@uni-greifswald.de, 2011)

     One important thing to note about this study is the volunteers transferred the bacteria with moistened fingertips. Well-kept books with dry pages are not usually a threat. There are some hospitals that participate in leading libraries and reading rooms. The materials are first examined for any previous exposure to moisture before acceptance.  

     When conditions are favorable paper can serve as a vehicle for cross-contamination of bacterial pathogens in medical settings. This is just reinforcement that current recommendations on hand hygiene needs to be meticulously followed. Even if you purchase a magazine off the stand you can’t know if you are the first to open it. After reading this study my new self-imposed rule is a full week quarantine of dry magazines before doing a workshop, but I will continue this process of collage being ever so mindful of universal precautions. 

References 

Institute for Hygiene and Environmental Medicine, Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald, Greifswald,Germany. nhuebner@uni-
greifswald.de. (2011). Survival of bacterial pathogens on paper and bacterial retrieval from paper to hands: preliminary results.

 American Journal of Nursing.

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Week 6 Creative Practice

 

My collage is becoming very textural and gaining some weight. My sacred place is some where between the first dip of the paint brush and the aroma of the art supply combustion in my  nostrils in my very small studio space . I see my art piece as story telling.

 

While trying to seek order and design elements with  this piece I see an unfolding of passion and understanding of why Art is important to the human race and why it is important to me as it heals me down to my core.The text and designs reminds me of where I have been in this travel of Art in Medicine and where I hope to go. There are a few more layers to go before I finish.  Who knows this may be one of those pieces I never finish just as the quest for art and meaning in life, there is always another level of the satisfaction seeker. 


                              Dissanayake, E. (1988). What is art for? Seattle: University of Washington Press.