Case Series: Episodes of Care in an Intensive Care Garden-Does Fresh Air Matter?

Access to nature is found to have significant mental and physical health benefits, but there is minimal evidence of the potential impact on patients, staff and relatives from intensive care.

It is the purpose of this paper to explore a case series of 2 patients from an intensive care in the United Kingdom (UK), utilising a garden space for end-of-life care and rehabilitation practices.

In the first case, care at end-of-life is explored from a relative and staff perspective. The second case explored the impact of utilisation of a garden space for the care of a patient with multi-drug-resistant organisms in intensive care.

Feedback from the first case explored that, despite the sadness of the end-of-life experience, the intensive care garden space provided a positive environment for all respondents. Four main themes emerged: environmental influence, personalisation and privacy, communication and perception of care of the patient and relative. The second case explored the positive impact of environmental conditions to control and manage the spread of complex drug-resistant pathogens, and the role of the interdisciplinary team to facilitate the management of complex delirium.

The utilisation of a garden room and fresh air space in both cases was found to optimise patient, relative, staff experience and in case 2 it was used successfully to support delirium management and rehabilitation experience.

Utilisation of a nature-based environment can impact positively patient, relative and staff experience of critical care, with careful attention to risk assessment and safety. However more clinical research is required to further explore the phenomenon.