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Gabrielle Masterson

Professor Tekeli

WRD 110 - 202

March 10th 2019

C2 Essay

Waiting Without a Room

As a society, we often take space and the way that we display it for granted. We never

take the time to truly analyze our surroundings and the effect they have on us. A place that I be-

lieve has an overflowing garden of symbolism and meaning within the roots of its design and

spacial usage, is the waiting room inside the surgical unit of Baptist Health Lexington Hospital.

The waiting area inside of Baptist Health Lexington’s surgical unit serves to comfort and support

the patients of the hospital and their families, however, the room only does so much to truly ease

their minds. The muffled televisions, few chairs, and magazines symbolize the attempted lack of

comfort done by the hospital. Due to the little effort put into using the space of a waiting room

appropriately, the comfort of the waiting area is left up to the people within its walls to make up

the difference for. A more dynamic and thought upon design for the waiting room could enhance

the environment and serve a better justice to those who find themselves waiting inside of Baptist

Health Lexington.

Upon entering the waiting room, a sense of anxiousness and discomfort washed over me

as it resembled the design of just about any other ordinary hospital waiting room I have came

across in my life. The environment immediately resurfaced nostalgia of past experiences at hos-
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pitals. The set up of the chairs and the arrangement of magazines locked my mind into the daunt-

ing stereotypical idea of a waiting room and the memories that have taken place in such a space

before. A nurse, Sonja M. Schwartzbach wrote a blog regarding her perception of hospital wait-

ing rooms in general. She describes them as, “Part jungle. Part jail cell. Where awkward smiles

cut through silence and surgical precision. A waiting room, foul and filthy; faith and family; cold

and sterile like the operating suite” (Schwartzbach). The most impactful idea that I took away

from this description was how she explained the cold and sterile aspect of the area. When I visit-

ed this waiting room, the thermostat was set at sixty five degrees Fahrenheit and the aroma

smelled as if they used hand sanitizer as air freshener. This aspect of the atmosphere puts patients

and their families figuratively inside of the operating room. It makes people feel as though the

hospital crossed out the name “Operating Room” on the door, changed it to “Waiting Room”,

and threw in a few tables and chairs. Families awaiting news about their loved ones in critical

situations shouldn’t feel as though they are along side the surgeons, unable to put on gloves and

contribute to saving them. This leaves families feeling helpless and guilty, as they just sit there in

those uncomfortable cheap chairs, staring at the dull grey walls awaiting for time to pass.

After becoming more used to the nostalgia and freezing temperature, my analyzation

shifted to the lack of light and sense of liveliness in the room. The waiting room had no win-

dows, the only source of light was the flickering dull yellow toned light positioned in the middle

of the ceiling. Along with this, making the room appear even darker, it had one crooked painting

consisting of dreary colors smack in the middle of the wall. Dr. Michelle Ossmann wrote an arti-

cle called “Healthcare Waiting Room Design”. Within this article she analyzed the aspects of
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general waiting rooms and their impact on the people it inhibits. She wrote, “Harshly lit, sparsely

decorated, and with little support for privacy or physical frailties, healthcare waiting rooms are

generally designed for utility and volume, devoid of comfort for the people who spend time

there”. After reading these opinions expressed by Dr. Ossmann, I came to the realization that

this waiting room was truly designed for utility and volume. After observing the waiting room, it

was obvious that Baptist Health Lexington put a significantly small amount of effort and time

into the design of the space. It serves its purpose of being a place for people to sit in chairs and

wait, but it needs to be more than that. The hospital should put the same amount of energy into

designing the waiting room to satisfy the needs of friends and families, as they do into construct-

ing operating rooms to ensure effectiveness and safety for the patient.

It is clear that the waiting room at Baptist Health Lexington needs change. During my

observation I came across a person sitting inside. I was hesitant to approach them and introduce

myself as I wasn’t sure the situation they were in, or if they would be willing to speak with me.

However, I desired to understand an insider’s perspective, so I decided to introduce myself to

her. Her name was Amanda Clayton, I further learned that she was the daughter of a woman go-

ing through an intense surgery. She described the environment of the waiting room to me as “dis-

comforting”. She touched on the idea that the families of patients deserve more than eleven

lumpy chairs, two tables, and a muffled television broadcasting depressing news (Clayton). Fam-

ilies deserve privacy, a sense welcomeness, and more access to information. Cheryl Janis wrote a

book about waiting rooms titled, “The Waiting Room Cure”. Cheryl got in a car accident when

she was younger and spent a significant amount of time in hospitals and their waiting rooms. She
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explained that hospital waiting rooms express a sense of “anxiety and fear” for her. She then

touched on possible solutions for waiting rooms like the one at Baptist Health Lexington. Cheryl

emphasized how hospitals need to “arrange the room like an inviting living room because it re-

minds patients that they are at home” and “layer lighting with a variety of light sources” in order

to life the spirit of the area. She utilizes factual evidence regarding artwork that “when people

view scenes that are universally preferred like sunsets and beaches, the nerve cells in that path-

way at the base of the brain becomes more active” (Janis). Artwork acts as another light source,

that is able to lift the energy inside of the room.

After analyzing the design on the waiting room in Baptist Health Lexington and research-

ing different sources relating to waiting rooms, I began sketching out ideas of how the structure

of the space could be developed better. Although germs and bacteria are often the reasoning for

the cold temperatures and hand sanitizer scent that linger within hospitals, the hospital could add

a few features to the room that would counteract this. Adding a few plug in air fresheners could

enhance the aroma of the room, as well as how providing a few blankets to patients’ families

could allow the necessary low temperature to be less harsh. This waiting room positions their

chairs in rows that force people to be directly across from each other. Most often, families inside

of the waiting rooms need privacy, which is hard to have when other people are forced to sit a

foot directly in front of you. In order to give people more privacy, the hospital could create

groups of five or six chairs in different areas of the room positioned in a way that face only the

other chairs inside their group. Investing in more comfortable chairs may also benefit the waiting
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room, as most people spend hours upon hours waiting inside those walls and should be able to

relax in a more comfortable place.

In order to brighten up the room and provide a more lively atmosphere, Baptist Health

Lexington should add a few more ceiling lights as well as position their waiting rooms in areas

that have access to windows. If the access of windows is difficult to attain, they should add a few

bright colored paintings and pictures to the walls, to brighten up the room in a way that catches

the eye of those inside. A television inside the room serves as a good distraction, however, some

people would rather have a quiet environment. If the hospital were to separate two different ar-

eas, one with a televison, and one with reading materials, it would allow for people to feel more

comfortable and able to use the waiting room in the way that they wish. All of these changes

could alter the impact the room has on people tremendously.

Baptist Health Lexington needs to spend the time to put the families’ of patients needs as

a priority. Although things as simple as windows, colorful artwork, information packets, better

thought upon seating arrangements, and more privacy within the room don’t seem to be the most

important things that need to be incorporated in hospitals; when the present waiting room and its

effect on people is analyzed, those small changes could have a lasting impact on waiting room

culture as a whole. There should be no lack of attempted comfort within the walls of the waiting

room, patients and their families should feel safe and as if the hospital cares about them. Filling

in the gap of lack of comfort, could be an incredible impact on the minds and hearts of those who

enter and spend time in the waiting room. Rather than a wave of anxiousness and discomfort
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washing over those opening the door, a warmth of home and hope will encompass people in-

stead.
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Works Cited

Dr. Ossmann, Michelle. “Healthcare Waiting Room Design.” Facility Executive - Creating

Intelligent Buildings, Facility Executive Magazine, 9 June 2016, facilityexecutive. com/

2016/06/healthcare-waiting-room-design/

Janis, Cheryl. The Waiting Room Cure.

Masterson, Gabrielle Michele, and Amanda Clayton. “Amanda Clayton Interview.” 7

Mar. 2019.

Schwartzbach, Sonja M. “The Anatomy of a Waiting Room.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 12 Oct. 2016,

www.huffpost.com/entry/the-anatomy-of-a-waiting-room_n_8278258?m=false