Hospital Outdoor Spaces as Respite Areas for Healthcare Staff During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created considerable implications for healthcare staff around the globe. During the pandemic, the frontline healthcare workers experience intense anxiety, stress, burnout, and psychological breakdown, with severe implications on their mental and physical well-being. In addition to these implications, anxiety and stress can hinder their productivity and ability to perform their duties efficiently. The literature indicates that hospital gardens and contact with nature can help alleviate psychological distress among hospital staff. However, few studies investigated the role of outdoor spaces as areas for respite and work breaks in healthcare facilities during the pandemic. The present opinion paper highlights the challenges of job stress and psychological distress health workers face during the pandemic. This article also underscores the role of hospital outdoor spaces and garden facilities in coping with the challenges. While other measures to reduce stress among hospital staff and ensure their health and safety are important, hospital administrators and relevant government agencies should also emphasize the provision of gardens and open spaces in healthcare facilities. These spaces can act as potential areas for respite for hospital staff to help them cope with the stress and anxiety accumulated through working under crises.

COVID-19 and Rapid Course Adaptations in Saudi Arabia: An Experiential Learning and Recommendations for Online Education

The COVID-19 Pandemic has severely impacted educational systems around the globe, necessitating rapid modifications to the educational milieu while safeguarding human health and wellbeing. Following the closure of universities in Saudi Arabia, the instructors of all theory courses were mandated to switch from face-to-face course delivery to remote teaching and learning. This research examines the challenges and impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the mode of teaching and learning and the numerous adaptations in the pedagogical framework of the Landscape Architecture program at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. It also explores the opportunities the transition to online education presents to faculty and students moving forward. The data were collected using an online questionnaire survey and focus group discussions. Data analyses consisted of descriptive statistics and thematic content analysis. The research finds that the sudden transition to online teaching and learning disrupted academic activities and had negatively affected the existing teaching and learning framework. Therefore, the research recommends an adaptable and dynamic teaching framework agile enough to cope with sudden disruptions. It concludes with lessons for future teaching and learning frameworks and amendments for upcoming sessions to deal with similar situations.

COVID-19 and the Dreads of Hospitalization: Connecting With a Recollection of Memories As a Patient of Dengue Fever.

I have spent a considerable time in visiting and even staying at various hospitals since my childhood. With many of the memories still intact, the one encounter whose mark is an enduring one in my mind is when I caught dengue fever and was admitted to a public hospital. During this stay, I remember largely being restless inside my room. However, visiting an outdoor ground near my ward was always a rejuvenating experience and made me feel stronger and better. It was during that time when I truly realized the significance of indoor as well as outdoor design quality of health care buildings and how they impact the well-being of their users. To say the least, that short stay at the hospital was one of the major reasons that why for my graduate and undergraduate theses, I chose to explore the role of well-designed and accessible outdoor spaces especially gardens in health care buildings for promoting mental as well as physical health and well-being among users. Presently, as we steer through a deadly pandemic, my own experiences from this hospital stay makes me want to reflect back and reemphasize on why there is a need for health care policy makers and relevant governmental bodies to strategize and prioritize long-term goals for implementing measures such as evidence-based design considerations of hospitals, especially in developing countries, and to promote accessible, inclusive, and safe healing spaces where patients may leave with positive experiences instead of negative reminiscences and where the staff can also use these spaces for respite.