Flower power helps recovery during a hospital stay

Nurses, on the whole, don’t love flowers. Not at work anyway.

That’s according to a new Imperial College London study that surveyed staff members at two London hospitals.

Apparently many nurses feel that flower handling interferes with their work. And someone at Southend University Hospital in Essex, UK, agrees. The administration there has banned all flower arrangements, claiming the flowers posed a safety risk.

A 35-year-old study supports this action. Sort of.

The study found that flower water often contains high bacteria levels. But while bacteria control is a huge challenge in hospitals, a follow-up study could not produce any evidence that flower water had ever prompted infection.

I think we can safely predict that flowers are in hospitals to stay (with the exception of SUH). According to Ivanhoe Newswire, one study found that patients who had flowers in their rooms experienced better medical outcomes compared to patients without flowers.

Less pain, less fatigue, less anxiety, reduced heart rate, reduced systolic blood pressure, and less need for analgesics after surgery were all linked to flowers in the room.

Maybe this is the “flower power” they were talking about back in the 60s.

Sources:
“Should Flowers be Banned in Hospitals?” Ivanhoe Newswire, 12/30/09, ivanhoe.com