Health Impacts of Hospital Farms and Gardens
Hospitals are increasingly using natural spaces on their campuses, including gardens, farms and green spaces, to create healthy spaces for their employees, patients, and visitors. There is little research on the physical, mental, and social health benefits of these spaces. I work with administrators and practitioners on research projects to measure the health impacts of natural spaces used by hospitals and other healthcare facilities.
Does Participating in a Hospital Garden-based Elective impact the Health of Medical Trainees?
Healthcare systems are increasingly using on-campus greenspaces as a way to support employee wellbeing. I work with two hospitals (Lankenau Medical Center and Christiana Hospital) who utilize garden spaces on their campuses for 2-week resident physician elective rotations. The elective rotations include educational components (culinary medicine, lifestyle medicine, botanical medicine, gardening) and well-being components (nature time, physical exercise, biophilia, reflection opportunities).
Resident physicians were invited to participate in a pilot study investigating the benefits of these garden-based elective rotations. Demographic information and baseline measures of burnout, mental wellbeing, and resilience were acquired prior to their elective rotation. Residents on their garden elective were asked to complete a daily electronic survey and end-of-rotation exit interview with the study leaders to monitor changes in their wellbeing, burnout indices, resilience, and stress.
Descriptively, we found improvements in two of three burnout subscales, with the decreases in emotional exhaustion particularly prominent after participating in the farm/garden elective.
