Quality of Health Care Facilities
Methodical research work regarding the effect of healthcare physical surroundings on consumers’ welfare and health outcome conducted by [6] revealed a positive correlating importance between the healthcare environment and the patients' health outcome. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews included a hundred and two works by [7] where the investigated interventions were: 'positive distractors' which included 2 studies on aromas, 5 audiovisual studies, a study on decoration and 85 studies on music. While the multifaceted interventions had 2 studies, physical change to minimize environmental stress included interventions such as; a study each on the type of bedroom, lighting, and temperature, 3 studies on the quality of air, 2 flooring studies, and 1 study assessing furniture and furnishings.
Overall, patient-account revealed the ability of music to lessen health outcomes like apprehension; on the other hand, physiological effects, and drug use contribution had little proof. With the exception of quality of air, few researches accepted or denied the introduction of physical changes. It was discovered by the incorporated research that the physical changes in the hospital environment did not cause any damage or harm. Following the incorporated criterion incorporated to assess no studies was found on art, interventions to reduce HCFs noise, patient controls, and technologies; avenues to seek aid, accessibility to nature for example, through gardens, balcony, window space and ceilings.
The significance and implications of the physical surroundings as it affects patient’s wellbeing was clearly stated in a simple outline by [8]. In contemporary time, studies indicate that the potential consequences attached with healthcare facilities physical environmental cues on patients’ recuperation and welfare has obtained considerable attention.
The Drahota’s study laid bare the capability of environmental factors in the production of optimistic results in health consumers outcomes, an idea referred to as ‘healing environments’. The surrounding physical state in healthcare facilities has the ability to affect and influence health consumer’s perception. The 'healing environments' ideology makes reference to cognitive effects of the physical environment through neurophysiological processing (sensory perception). One significant study tracked the recovery of patients in hospitals while viewing vegetation as opposed to structures, and found that those with a view to nature recovered faster [9].
Theoretical Perspectives
Perception of HCFs physical structure and equipment quality through the lens of Edmund Husserl’s Phenomenology of time consciousness
The study of “phenomena” (appearance of things, or how objects emerge in individual’s experience, or in what forms individual’s experience objects, thus the meanings objects have in our perception at a specific time is regarded as time conscious phenomenology.
The phenomenologist [9] assumes that intentional consciousness is related with universal contents, this can be interpreted to mean that perception, recalling; imagining and willingness are intentional in its very existence as conscious actions of the moment, hence, time conscious phenomenology assumes that our physical awareness concerning things in our surrounding or the appearance of things in our minds eye (perception, experience, thoughts, and memory) is time-related [10].
Although the intentional ideology possesses an undertone of wilful interest, it essentially showcases the connection consciousness has with surrounding objects. Our perception, according to classical Husserlian phenomenology, is geared (represents or intended) towards things through particular concepts, thoughts, ideas, and pictures temporarily. Husserl referred to the various structure of experience as “intentionality” because; the directedness of perception towards objects within the physical sphere possesses consciousness attributes.
One important implication of this theory is that it explores the composition of consciousness in the formation of perception concerning an object experienced within a particular time.
The connection between this research work and the phenomenology of time-consciousness is that it seeks to account for intentionality in enrollees perception guided by experience over time.
Perception of HCFs physical structure and equipment quality through the len of Attention theory
A major proponent of the attention theory, [11] suggested that tangible features present in the environment at specific timing are stored in a limitless capacity sensory buffer for cues processing and selection. Individuals then decide on which cues are to be given attention and which ones to avoid or omit (basically, the physical attributes of cues allows them to pass through the filtering process).
We may better characterize our environment as an environment of stimuli. Stimuli
Influence all or every one of our senses. Although, not all of the sensory clues within an individual’s physical environment are listened or taken in at the same time but the presence of multitude of stimuli has the ability to overpower the human sense of feeling, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling. Because people cannot uphold simultaneous perceptible views to every stimulus exposed to in their physical setting, the clutter of cues observed are usually filtered after being taken in, and only a few are acceptable into the individual’s mind. Such filters according to [12] are placed initially at the sensory filter for recording but gradually they begin to move into the perception filter phase.
Information that successfully passes through these filters is remembered, attached with meanings and thereafter, kept in the memory to be recalled for future use. Similarly, Naïve Realism emphasizes the function of perceptual experience involving the direct consciousness of the mind to filter independent objects. This filtering ability is instantly apparent to the mind once we experience external objects. Individual’s perceptional experiences are made up of their mind-independent objects as well as its comprising features. At such, we are connected to those objects by our experiences and the unique quality of perception is attributed to objects that are independent of the mind’s wit. In this way, when a patient enters the health care hospital, the patient sees every visible part of the health service provider (HCPs), which is an external entity. The experience is of the HCP—such a patient is conscious of the object (HCP) directly—and the sensory attributes which appears are elements of the mind-independent item.
Overall, the filter theory can be seen in the light of one of the major naïve realist defenders [13,14,15,16] who viewed experience as the relation linking persons with the object of awareness. To this end, the filter theory can be said to focus on the ability of the individual mind to take up, process and maintain certain signals from the HCF context, while others are rightly dismissed, thereby making perception a sequence involving the knowledge of mentally autonomous objects.
The connection between this research work and the filter theory of attention is to depict how enrollees subsequently attaches meanings to the cues and how such interpretations are attached to a stimulus exposed to during healthcare. These may involve good or bad experiences, but, such involvement depends on the force within the cue. Whatever personal understanding or meanings the enrollee makes regarding the accessed service will be kept in the memory to be recalled in the future when deciding about services to patronise in that particular HCF.
The Phenomenology of time consciousness as well as the attention theories was adopted to guide the study in investigating how perceptions are dependent on enrollees exposure to stimuli present in cues (whether good or bad) as an essential reality of the human consciousness. Enrollees perception of healthcare facility’s physical structure and equipment can therefore be said to be linked to their given meanings to the objects encountered, both successional (eg, a mobile X-ray machine) or static (eg, a hospital building), this filtered cues are used in developing basic assumptions regarding the objects quality at the point of contact.
