Expanding the Concept of Safety in Psychiatric Inpatient Units to Create Healing Environments

摘要

Establishing and maintaining an environment in which healing can take place has long been regarded as one of nursing's key professional responsibilities. Indeed, Florence Nightingale (1860/1969) declared that nursing "is an act of utilizing the environment of the patient to assist him in his recovery." Given the major role of infectious pathogens in causing disease during Nightingale's era, her primary focus was naturally on aspects of the physical environment such as fresh air, adequate light, clean water, and sanitary conditions. However, her discussion of the importance of honest and encouraging interactions with persons suffering from illness in her Notes on Nursing (1860/1969) demonstrates a keen understanding of how interpersonal factors can affect healing.