Windows: do patients need them?

Update Item Information
Title Windows: do patients need them?
Publication Type thesis
School or College College of Nursing
Department Nursing
Author Baughman, Diane Catherine.
Date 1979-06
Description The problem investigated was whether or not the presence or absence of window that hospitalized patients can look out of from their beds makes any difference in their physiological course of recovery after surgery. The study was of a descriptive, retrospective, exploratory nature, utilizing two hundred surgical subjects. On half of the patients had windows and the others had no windows. The season of hospitalization was considered in each case. The subjects were categorized according to type of surgery: hystetectomy, herniorrhaphy, and nasal surgeries. The physiological variables studied were temperature, heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Other factors accounted for were age, sex temperature, heart rate and blood pressure taken at time of admission, smoking and length of hospital stay. Four null hypotheses were developed and applied to each of the three groups of patients. 1. There will be no statistically difference in group mean post operative temperature between patients without windows and patients with windows in either summer or winter. 2. There will be no statistically significant difference in group mean post operative heart rate between patients without windows and patients with windows in either summer or winter. 3. There will be no statistically significant difference in group mean post operative systolic blood pressure between patients without windows and patients with windows in either summer or winter. 4. There will be no statistically significant difference in group mean post operative diastolic blood pressure between patients without windows and patients with windows in either summer or winter. The significance level was present at p?0.05. The statistics used were Analysis of Variance and Analysis of Covariance. The results for the hysterectomy group did not meet the required p?0.05. The hypotheses were accepted. The herniorrhaphy group showed a statistically significant result. Diastolic blood pressure was higher for male herniorrhaphy patients with windows in the summer months (p=0.027). The hypothesis was rejected. The hypothesis concerned with systolic blood pressure and heart rate, however, were accepted. There were no statistically significant results for the nasal surgery group. All hypotheses were accepted. A recommendation for further study is a long term window/no window study using a large population of chronically ill patient who are confined to their assigned beds and lack the mobility of the patients in this study.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject Hesterectomy; Herniorrhaphy
Subject MESH Environment; Patients; Surgical Procedures, Operative
Dissertation Institution University of Utah
Dissertation Name MS
Language eng
Relation is Version of Digital reproduction of "Windows: do patients need them?" Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library. Print version of "Windows: do patients need them?" available at J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collection. TH7.5 1979 .B38.
Rights Management © Catherine Diane Baughman
Format application/pdf
Format Medium application/pdf
Identifier us-etd2,162
Source Original: University of Utah Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library (no longer available).
ARK ark:/87278/s6vd7d4t
Setname ir_etd
ID 194197
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6vd7d4t
Back to Search Results