Healthcare

nature-view patients had shorter hospital stays than wall-view patients

Exact: 23 vs 23 patients

Patients with a nature window view had shorter postoperative hospital stays

In this matched case-control study of cholecystectomy patients at a suburban Pennsylvania hospital (1972–1981), 23 patients with nature-view windows were compared to 23 patients with wall-view windows. Those with the nature view had shorter postoperative stays, suggesting that even a passive visual connection to nature supports recovery.

Twenty-three surgical patients assigned to rooms with windows looking out on a natural scene had shorter postoperative hospital stays, received fewer negative evaluative comments in nurses' notes, and took fewer potent analgesics than 23 matched patients in similar rooms with windows facing a brick building wall.
Roger S. Ulrich, 1984, Science

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