Book Review: Transforming the Healthcare Experience Through the Arts

Transforming the Healthcare Experience Through the Arts Transforming the Healthcare Experience Th rough the Arts. Blair L. Sadler and Annette Ridenour (2009). San Diego, CA: Aesthetics, Inc. 226 pages. ISBN: 0984232605Th e arts in healthcare represent a diverse, multidisciplinary fi eld dedicated to transforming the healthcare experience by connecting people with the power of the arts at key moments in their lives (Society for the Arts in Healthcare, State of the Field Committee, 2009). Over the past 3 decades, a convergence of interests-among artists to bring their art to healthcare settings, among patients and staff to experience the presence of the arts, and among healthcare institutions to utilize the arts-has spurred the emergence of the arts in healthcare as a fi eld (Pratt, 2003). Th e arts-in-healthcare programs have been increasingly embraced over these decades by healthcare organizations worldwide as a means of meeting organizational and patient care goals.Such programs use the visual, performing, and literary arts to enhance quality of care, improve health outcomes, improve organizational satisfaction and retention among professional caregivers and staff , enhance the environment of care, and deliver health information. Of primary intent in the practice of arts in healthcare is the use of the arts and creative engagement to reduce suff ering, promote health, and assist healthcare organizations in providing eff ective patient-centered care (Sonke, Rollins, Brandman, & Graham-Pole, 2009).In Transforming the Healthcare Experience Th rough the Arts, Blair Sadler and Annette Ridenour provide healthcare professionals and arts-in-healthcare practitioners with a compelling case for why the arts should be integral to healthcare and a beautifully presented guide to best practices and established outcomes from the fi eld. A timely contribution to the fi eld, this book and the programs it promotes have the potential to eff ect the transformation and improvements that the healthcare industry is striving to achieve in the 21st century. Th e programs featured in the book demonstrate clearly and convincingly that the arts are appropriate, eff ective, and cost-effi cient strategies for increasing patient and staff satisfaction and for improving patient safety and quality of care.With more than 30 years of leadership in the fi elds of healthcare management and design, respectively, Blair Sadler and Annette Ridenour have tackled an important task in documenting the value of the arts to healthcare organizations. Sadler, a senior fellow at the Institute for Health Improvement and a faculty member in the University of California San Diego Schools of Medicine and Management, served as president and chief executive offi cer of Rady Children's Hospital for 26 years. During his tenure, he collaborated extensively with Ridenour, president of Aesthetics, Inc., and a long-time leader of the arts in healthcare, to develop evidence-based healing environments and arts programming at Rady Children's Hospital. Th eir collaborations also resulted in the establishment of the Blair Sadler International Healing Arts Competition to recognize exemplary healthcare arts initiatives. Part II of the book includes 36 award-winning entries to this competition.Transforming the Healthcare Experience Th rough the Arts features three well-organized sections that provide readers with a foundation for understanding the context of the arts in healthcare, diverse best practices, and a roadmap for establishing arts programs in healthcare. In Part I, the authors make a case for the value of the arts in healthcare by addressing industry-wide challenges and goals. Th e arts are discussed in relation to their positive impact on four important current trends in healthcare: (1) the mandatory collection and reporting of patient satisfaction information; (2) the healthcare quality/safety revolution; (3) the growing infl uence of evidence-based design; and (4) the increasing impact of the Baby Boom generation. …