hospital waiting room creative writing

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Setting Description: Emergency Waiting Room

June 5, 2010 by ANGELA ACKERMAN

Automatic sliding doors, beat-up chairs (filled with people who have: broken limbs, cuts, red noses, bruising, scrapes, holding garbage bins to throw up in, are wearing surgical masks, are crying, have been beaten, are holding onto the person next to them for support, reading magazines, books, clutching at purses or holding tight to jackets slung over an arm, leaning back in their chair asleep), overflowing garbage bins, half finished coffee containers

Whispering, crying, uneven or distressed breathing, the sound of someone throwing up, moaning, groaning, whimpering, pleasing, praying, newspapers rattling, arguing, magazine pages flipping, the papery slide of a book page being turned, the pop and fizz of a pop can being opened, static-y police & security radios

Antiseptic, cleaning products, hand sanitizer, vomit, BO, sweat, booze breath, coffee, taco chips, perfume, hair products, cough drops, air conditioned & filtered air

Coffee in a container, pop, juice and water from a container, snack foods from a vending machine, mints, gum, nicorette. Most people try hard not to eat in the waiting room because of the risk of exposure to airborne and surface contaminants.

Thin padded or plastic seats offering little comfort or room, metal arm rails digging into forearms, making oneself ‘small’ and holding self straight to avoid touching those to either side, twisting the admittance band on wrist, rolling shoulders, crossing and recrossing legs, twisting a wedding band, rubbing eyes, pinching bridge of the nose, rubbing arms and shaking self in an attempt to stay awake

Helpful hints:

–The words you choose can convey atmosphere and mood.

I stared down at my hands, twisting and knotting them as if doing so would hold back the turmoil inside me. Despair roamed the room, expelled on the breath of worriers like me and those doing their best to bite down on the pain that brought them here.

–Similes and metaphors create strong imagery when used sparingly.

Example 1: (Simile)

After the symphony of coughing, hacking and wheezing that greeted Becky in the ER waiting room, she found the closest antibacterial hand dispenser and starting working it like a gambling addict hitting up a VLT machine.

Think beyond what a character sees, and provide a sensory feast for readers!

Setting is much more than just a backdrop, which is why choosing the right one and describing it well is so important. To help with this, we have expanded and integrated this thesaurus into our online library at One Stop For Writers . Each entry has been enhanced to include possible sources of conflict , people commonly found in these locales , and setting-specific notes and tips , and the collection itself has been augmented to include a whopping 230 entries—all of which have been cross-referenced with our other thesauruses for easy searchability. So if you’re interested in seeing a free sample of this powerful Setting Thesaurus, head on over and register at One Stop.

On the other hand, if you prefer your references in book form, we’ve got you covered, too. The Urban Setting Thesaurus and The Rural Setting Thesaurus are available for purchase in digital and print copies. In addition to the entries, each book contains instructional front matter to help you maximize your settings. With advice on topics like making your setting do double duty and using figurative language to bring them to life, these books offer ample information to help you maximize your settings and write them effectively.

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers , a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

Reader Interactions

June 7, 2010 at 10:50 pm

Great job, Angela!

Having spent more time with my late husband in the ER than I care to remember, I’d add:

Triage area Casting room (for broken bones) X-Rays/CAT Scan IV’s Blood pressure cuffs Isolation room for those with lowered immune system (there’s a name for it, but I can’t recall what it is). Heart monitors Admissions clerks taking information with computers on portable carts.

I could probably come up with more, but it’s late. 🙂

Blessings, Susan

June 7, 2010 at 6:31 pm

Since I’ve spent too much time in too many emergency rooms, your post struck a true chord with me.

It seems you’re fond of zombies. I found a new author site that details a zombie I don’t think I ever before read about : http://fictitiousflashes.blogspot.com/

Not mine. That would be too tacky. But blog just starting out. Lena shows great promise, and I thought it might be nice for all of us to pop in and surprise her with a warm, friendly hello. Roland

June 7, 2010 at 2:19 pm

The whiff of hand sanitizer hangs heavy over this post, Angela. In fact, I feel a cough coming on. I hope I’m not catching something. Or worse, getting MRSA!!!! AHHHH!!!

Hope your hubby is feeling better and life is getting back on an even keel.

June 7, 2010 at 1:31 pm

Great post! I’ve recently learned to do this…to close my eyes and take each sense at a time. To actually put myself there in the moment and write it. Not on the first draft, necessarily, but certainly on the revision. I’ve been there in the ER, and you put me right there again while sitting at my work desk!

June 7, 2010 at 1:42 am

wow angela, i’m always blown away by your attention to detail! another great post!!

June 6, 2010 at 6:05 pm

Thanks everyone for sharing and commenting. Sladly yes, this one os personal experience, although my waiting time was closer to ten fun-filled hours. Still, I filled the time looking at the room and the people, knowing it was a perfect setting to blog about. It helped pass the time a bit.

Sorry for everyone who is all too familiar with this one. Still I hope it helps anyone writing hospital ER room scenes (like the awesomo Lisa and Laura!)

June 6, 2010 at 4:55 pm

The crazies really do come out during a full moon. Can’t explain why, but working in an ER, I’ve experienced it!

June 5, 2010 at 11:47 pm

Excellent post – sounds like you were speaking from experience there 🙂

Shauna (murgatr)

June 5, 2010 at 11:41 pm

Great post! I write note like this every time I travel. 🙂

June 5, 2010 at 11:19 pm

The example with the simile made me laugh. I could perfectly visualize the gal working the sanitizer pump.

Actually they were all great. The sampling of senses have a wonderful amount of detail. Even though I hope none of us need to experience an ER visit personally.

June 5, 2010 at 10:12 pm

There’s part of our WIP set in a hospital and this post makes me itch to edit! Great work!

June 5, 2010 at 9:24 pm

Nice post. This is where I lack and it helps to think of it this way. Thanks,

June 5, 2010 at 2:22 pm

This is a place I know only too well. But at least the new Children’s Hospital ER is much nice than the old one.

June 5, 2010 at 12:20 pm

I’ve worked in quite a few hospitals and this is a good assessment. Though depending on the hospital (and the country), you could definitely work in even more smells!

June 5, 2010 at 12:18 pm

This is fantastic! It captured the feel of an ER room perfectly! Great inspiration, thanks!

June 5, 2010 at 11:13 am

Great stuff and timely for me considering how much time I have spent in hospitals recently. There is something about the combination of antiseptic smell and the ever present glare of white halogen lights that really destroys me when I am in a hospital, especially if I have to spend a long, cold night in an Emergency Room corridor with a grieving relative.

June 5, 2010 at 9:59 am

Great job evoking a place we’d rather not spend too much time in!

June 5, 2010 at 8:02 am

Angela, another extraordinary crafting post! Thanks for being so informative time and time again 🙂

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How to Describe a Hospital Room in a Story

By Brittany Kuhn

Image of hospital ward and title of post which is how to describe a hospital in a story.

Is a hospital room a setting in your book? If you’re wondering how to describe a hospital room in a story, we’ve put together 10 words and short pieces of narrative making use them for you below.

1. Clinical

Relating to a hospital patient.
Methodical or calmly detached.
With exact precision.

“Even the posters on the wall were more clinical than comforting. It was less a room and more a doctor’s office with a bed.”

“The clinical instruments crowded around the bed made her look less human and more like a robot.”

How it Adds Description

Describing a hospital room as clinical suggests your character feels the hospital doesn’t see them as a person, only a job. Clinical makes the room feel more like a laboratory for research than a place of healing and adds a sense of dread to the scene.

Completely cleaned of all life or micro-organisms.

“He hated how sterile his hospital room felt; even the smell of the cleaning liquid echoed how completely lifeless it was.”

“I looked around and immediately noticed how sterile and void of life the room felt; how could my mother hope to fight for her life here?”

Sterile is a natural word to use when describing a hospital room because it suggests a lack of germs or dirt, things to avoid if you don’t want to cause an infection. However, sterile also implies a place completely empty of personality or variety, which you could use to echo your character’s feelings of hopelessness about being there in the first place.

Without coverings; exposed.
Without superfluous additions, just the necessities .

“The room was bare apart from a bed, a sink, and a singular uncomfortable chair.”

“She started adding her own touches to the bare hospital room. If she was going to be there a while, might as well make it hers.”

Use bare to describe the hospital room to give your reader some specific insight into how the character is feeling about the situation. Having your character describe the room as bare shows the character is feeling as empty and disconnected as the room physically seems.

Oppressive feeling of being closed in .

“With no fan or window to open, the hospital room began to feel increasingly stuffy and stifling.”

“He had been lying in the hospital bed for so long the air around him felt stuffier with every breath.”

If you really want to hammer home how trapped your patient feels, have them describe the hospital room as stuffy . A stuffy hospital room implies a mood of panic and anxiety hanging in the air and gives a negative impression of whatever procedures might be taking place there.

5. Comfortable

Providing a sense of safety and relaxation.
Without doubt or worry.

“Her mom added some soft bits from home to help the room feel more comfortable for the long haul.”

“The nurses have added little touches, like fresh flowers and personal notes on the whiteboard, to make the room more comfortable compared to the rest of the hospital.”

Alternately, someone who has come to terms with the situation or a more advanced or wealthy hospital might have more comfortable rooms. Using more positive language like comfortable shows the reader that this hospital likely leads to more successful outcomes.

For single or restricted use.

“When they wheeled me into my own private room, I didn’t know whether to rejoice from the privacy or be worried at the special treatment.”

“We always knew the patient was terminal when they got moved to the private , secluded room on the third floor.”

Describing your character’s hospital room as private, shows the reader that they need more specific and specialized medical attention. A private room also suggests the character is unlikely to be leaving the hospital anytime soon.

Small and tightly packed.

“All the life-saving instruments he needed to stay alive made the room seem cramped and crowded.”

“Even though there was only a bed and a bedside table, the cramped hospital room felt fit to burst.”

Cramped suggests a claustrophobic atmosphere for a character, caused by not knowing when they will ever leave the hospital room again. Cramped can also highlight how small the room is if you are commenting on the poor state of the hospital or care.

Lacking in color or vibrancy, such as snow or a bright light.

“She was practically blinded by how white the hospital room was; it was like she’d died and gone to the pearly gates.”

“The dark red of the patient’s blood seemed even more alien splattered all over the white walls of the hospital room.

Making a point of how white the hospital room looks will highlight for the reader just how empty of color and life the room feels. This also suggests feelings of death, like when those who have died for a few minutes say they saw a white light. The reader will feel anxious for the character in the hospital because the whiteness of it all will feel too much like the character is about to die.

Without sound or movement.

“It was eerie how quiet and empty the hospital room was in the middle of the night.”

“The hospital room was surprising quiet once they turned off the machines keeping him alive.”

Hospitals are loud places: there are alarms going off, people rushing around, doctors barking orders. Describing a hospital room as quiet shows that something has gone wrong and will make the reader sit up and pay attention to whatever is happening.

10. Overwhelming

Crushing sense of being overpowered .

“The layers of noise from all the alarms and instruments made the room feel overwhelming .”

“The overwhelming hospital room was bursting with activity.”

Because overwhelming suggests a loss of power or control, describe the room as overwhelming to show the reader your character is struggling to come to terms with brought them to the hospital in the first place.

How to Write Hospital Scenes (21 Best Tips + Examples)

Hospitals are places where life’s most poignant moments unfold, from the joy of birth to the sorrow of passing away.

As such, hospital scenes show up in a lot of stories.

Here is how to write hospital scenes:

Write hospital scenes by understanding the medical hierarchy, capturing authentic ambiance, using medical jargon sparingly, and emphasizing emotional dynamics. Consider the patient’s journey, relationships, and triumphs. Every element should enhance the realism and emotional depth of the scene.

In this guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know about how to write hospital scenes.

1. Understand the Hospital Hierarchy

Digital Image of a hospital - How to Write Hospital Scenes

Table of Contents

Understanding the hospital hierarchy is crucial.

Hospitals aren’t just about doctors and nurses. They’re made up of an intricate web of professionals working cohesively.

Knowing the roles of various healthcare professionals adds depth to your scene.

Whether it’s an interaction between a resident and an attending physician, or between a nurse and a technician, understanding these dynamics can create tension or camaraderie in your writing.

As Dr. Smith entered the room, she nodded at the nurse. “How’s our patient today, Jane?” Jane, an experienced ICU nurse, responded, “Stable, but his oxygen levels dipped overnight. The respiratory therapist worked on it, and they’re improving now.”

2. Capture the Hospital Ambiance

The atmosphere in a hospital is unique.

The constant beep of monitors, the murmurs of visitors, and the distant announcements over the intercom form a backdrop to your scene.

A vivid atmosphere sets the mood.

Is it a quiet night or a bustling day? The ambiance can reflect the emotional tone of the scene.

The dimly lit hallway echoed with soft footsteps, punctuated by the occasional beep from a room further down. Somewhere, a baby cried, and a nurse’s voice softly tried to soothe.

3. Use Medical Jargon Judiciously

While it’s tempting to throw in medical terms to sound authentic, overusing them or using them incorrectly can confuse readers.

Medical jargon, when used correctly, lends authenticity.

But it’s crucial to ensure the reader can understand the context.

“We’ve started him on a course of IV antibiotics. His white blood cell count was high, indicating an infection.”

4. Show the Emotional Toll

Hospitals are places of healing, but they’re also where people face mortality, pain, and fear.

Capturing the emotional landscape provides depth to your characters and connects readers to the story.

Remember, not everyone in a hospital is a patient; families, visitors, and even healthcare professionals have their emotional journeys.

Nurse Daniels looked out the window for a moment, taking a deep breath to compose herself after the last patient’s passing. The weight of the day heavy on her shoulders.

5. Research Common Procedures

Researching common medical procedures can help you craft realistic scenarios.

Readers, especially those with some medical background, appreciate accuracy.

Getting the details right can boost your story’s credibility.

Sarah watched as the nurse prepared the IV line, ensuring all air bubbles were out before inserting it into her arm.

6. Distinguish between Different Wards

Not all hospital areas are the same.

An ICU differs from a maternity ward or a general patient room.

Distinguishing between different wards can help set the scene, tone, and pace. For instance, an emergency room scene will have a different urgency than a scene in a recovery ward.

The ER was a flurry of activity, with paramedics rushing in and doctors shouting orders. Two floors up, in the recovery ward, it was a different world. Here, the pace was slower, with patients resting and nurses moving quietly between rooms.

7. Remember the Role of Technology

Modern hospitals are technologically advanced.

From MRI machines to portable ECGs, technology is everywhere.

Incorporating technology not only adds realism but also can create tension or relief, depending on the situation.

The room was tense as everyone stared at the ultrasound monitor. A moment later, the unmistakable sound of a heartbeat filled the small space, bringing tears of relief to Maria’s eyes.

8. Understand the Patient Experience

Every individual’s journey through a hospital varies based on the reason for their visit, their past experiences, and their personal anxieties.

The emotional and physical state of a patient is central to their perspective.

They may be overwhelmed, scared, hopeful, or even indifferent.

A writer should consider these emotions when crafting their characters’ responses to treatments, their interactions with medical staff, and even their internal monologue.

Lying in the sterile room, Mark felt exposed. The cold sheets beneath him, the foreign sounds — everything made him uneasy.

9. Highlight Interpersonal Dynamics

Relationships and interactions are the lifeblood of any setting, and hospitals are no exception.

The professional and personal dynamics between staff members can add layers of complexity to a scene.

Perhaps two doctors have conflicting treatment philosophies, or a nurse and a patient share a poignant moment.

These relationships can be sources of both conflict and collaboration, driving the narrative forward and allowing for multifaceted character exploration.

Dr. Patel and Nurse Ramirez had a renowned partnership. Where one was, the other wasn’t far behind, their synchronized movements a testament to years of collaboration.

10. Address Ethical Dilemmas

The hospital setting is fertile ground for moral quandaries, given the life and death decisions made daily.

Ethical dilemmas force characters to confront their values and priorities.

This can range from debates about end-of-life care to the potential ramifications of experimental treatments.

Exploring these tough decisions can provide depth to your narrative and give characters opportunities to evolve and grow.

Faced with the choice of continuing treatment or opting for palliative care, Jenna’s family was divided, each member grappling with their convictions.

11. Don’t Forget the Waiting Rooms

While patient rooms are pivotal, waiting areas serve as intersections of myriad emotions and interactions.

Waiting rooms often encapsulate the anticipation, anxiety, and hope of families and friends.

They can serve as places of bonding between strangers, reflections on the past, or moments of unexpected news.

By delving into the microcosm of the waiting room, writers can unveil diverse human experiences and emotions.

As Sarah waited, she struck up a conversation with an older man, their shared worries forging an unexpected bond.

12. Include Flashbacks or Memories

Hospital environments, laden with emotions, can act as catalysts for characters to relive past experiences.

These flashbacks can be directly related to the current medical situation or completely tangential, offering insights into a character’s past traumas, joys, or significant life events.

Leveraging these memories can create juxtapositions with the present and highlight character growth or unresolved issues.

As the anesthesiologist spoke, Clara’s mind drifted back to her childhood accident — the reason for her phobia of hospitals.

13. Use Senses Beyond Sight

A multisensory approach makes a scene more immersive and vivid for the reader.

Hospitals are a cacophony of sounds, smells, and textures.

From the sterile scent of disinfectant to the soft hum of machines or the rough texture of a bandage, engaging multiple senses offers a comprehensive and engrossing portrayal of the environment, drawing readers into the scene.

The antiseptic smell was overpowering, the occasional distant cough and soft hum of machinery serving as a constant reminder of where she was.

14. Introduce Unexpected Humor

In the face of adversity, humor can act as a relief valve, revealing character resilience.

Moments of levity in tense or somber situations can humanize characters.

It can show their coping mechanisms or their attempts to uplift others.

This contrast can make the gravity of a situation even more poignant while offering readers moments of reprieve.

“You’d think after all these years, they’d find a gown that actually closes in the back,” mused John, earning a chuckle from the nurse.

15. Respect Cultural and Religious Sensitivities

Acknowledging the diverse tapestry of patient backgrounds enhances realism and inclusivity.

Medical decisions, comfort levels with treatments, and interactions with hospital staff can all be influenced by cultural or religious beliefs.

It’s important for writers to enrich their narrative with representation and respect for diverse perspectives.

Mrs. Khan hesitated, her cultural beliefs about modesty making her wary of the male doctor. Recognizing this, Nurse Garcia gently stepped in to mediate.

16. Show Fatigue and Stress among Healthcare Workers

Behind the clinical professionalism, healthcare workers grapple with the emotional and physical demands of their roles.

These professionals often bear witness to intense human experiences, from birth to death and everything in between.

Chronicling their exhaustion, moments of doubt, or instances of resilience can offer a balanced view of the hospital ecosystem.

Not only that but it can also emphasize the human element behind the medical expertise.

After a 16-hour shift, Dr. Lee’s steps were heavy. She paused for a moment, rubbing her temples, before moving on to the next patient.

17. Address the Financial Aspects

The economics of healthcare can be a significant concern for patients and families.

Financial worries can compound the stress of a medical situation.

Addressing these concerns — be it through the lens of insurance battles, out-of-pocket costs, or the broader healthcare debate — can root your story in real-world challenges, making it more relatable and timely.

The relief that her mother was recovering was overshadowed by the mounting medical bills that Amy now faced, a dilemma she hadn’t anticipated.

18. Highlight Moments of Triumph

Despite the challenges, hospitals are also spaces of recovery, healing, and miracles.

Emphasizing moments of success or relief, whether they’re medical breakthroughs or personal victories like a patient taking their first step post-surgery, can infuse your narrative with hope and inspiration.

These moments underscore the resilience of the human spirit and the dedication of medical professionals.

Against all odds, Mr. Rodriguez took his first steps after the accident, the entire ward cheering him on.

19. Include External Influences

The world outside doesn’t stop when one enters a hospital. External events can influence the internal dynamics of the setting.

By weaving in external influences, you can showcase the adaptability of the hospital environment and its staff.

Whether it’s a natural disaster leading to an influx of patients or a city-wide event affecting hospital operations, these external elements can add layers of complexity to your narrative.

As the city marathon was underway, the ER braced for a busy day, anticipating the influx of dehydration cases and potential injuries.

20. Detail Personal Keepsakes

Personal items offer glimpses into a patient’s world outside the hospital, grounding them in reality.

These keepsakes can act as symbols of hope, reminders of loved ones, or touchstones of normalcy in an otherwise clinical environment.

Detail these items and their significance to build deeper emotional connections between characters and readers.

Next to Mrs. Everett’s bed stood a framed photo of a young couple on their wedding day, a testament to a love that had weathered many storms.

21. Remember the Power of Touch

In an environment often dominated by machines and medical instruments, human touch stands out.

Touch, whether comforting or clinical, can convey a multitude of emotions.

A reassuring hand on a shoulder, a clinical examination, or a desperate grasp during a moment of fear can be powerful narrative tools, emphasizing human connection and vulnerability.

As the news settled in, James reached out, gently squeezing his sister’s hand. In that simple gesture, he conveyed the strength and support she desperately needed.

Check out this video about how NOT to write hospital scenes (Unless you’re going for pure comedy):

30 Words to Describe Hospital Scenes

The words you choose for your hospital scenes will alter the mood, tone, and entire reader experience.

Here are 30 words you can use to write hospital scenes:

Fluorescent
Reverberating
Crisp (as in uniforms)
Intermittent
Cold (as in touch)
Harsh (as in lights)
Labored (as in breathing)

30 Phrases to Write Hospital Scenes

Try these phrases when writing your hospital scenes.

Not all of the phrases will work for your story (or any story) but, hopefully, they will help you craft your own sentences.

“A symphony of monitors beeped in rhythm.”
“Whispers filled the corridor, punctuated by distant footsteps.”
“The scent of disinfectant was almost overpowering.”
“Nurses moved with practiced efficiency.”
“The weight of anticipation hung in the air.”
“A curtain rustled softly in the next bed.”
“Lights overhead cast stark shadows on the floor.”
“Intercom announcements broke the tense silence.”
“Machines whirred and clicked in the background.”
“Soft murmurs of comfort echoed.”
“Trolleys clattered past at regular intervals.”
“Gauzy curtains diffused the morning light.”
“A stifled sob broke the sterile calm.”
“The rhythmic pulse of the heart monitor filled the void.”
“The chill of the tiles was evident even through socks.”
“Hushed conversations ceased at the doctor’s arrival.”
“Labored breathing was the room’s only soundtrack.”
“A clipboard clattered to the ground, shattering the quiet.”
“The distant hum of an MRI machine grew louder.”
“The atmosphere was thick with a mix of hope and despair.”
“Patients lay in rows, separated by thin partitions.”
“The waiting area was a mosaic of emotions.”
“Doctors consulted charts with furrowed brows.”
“IV drips punctuated the silence with their steady rhythm.”
“A sudden rush of activity signaled an emergency.”
“Whirring fans attempted to combat the stifling heat.”
“Shadows played on the wall as the day waned.”
“The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, unceasing.”
“A lone wheelchair sat abandoned in the hall.”
“Gentle reassurances were whispered bedside.”

3 Full Examples of Writing Hospital Scenes

Here are three complete examples of how to write hospital scenes in different genres.

The hallway of St. Mercy’s was dimly lit, echoing with the soft murmurs of the night shift nurses.

Elizabeth walked slowly, her heels clicking on the tiles, each step feeling like an eternity as she approached room 309. The scent of antiseptics was faint but ever-present, reminding her of the weight of the place. As she pushed open the door, the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor greeted her, and in the dim light, she saw her father, pale but stable.

Tears welled up, not out of sorrow, but of gratitude.

2. Mystery/Thriller

Detective Rowe entered the ICU, the atmosphere thick with tension.

The overhead lights cast a harsh glow on the room where the city’s mayor lay unconscious. A nurse, her uniform crisp and white, glanced up, her eyes betraying a mix of curiosity and wariness. Rowe noted the machines surrounding the bed — their mechanical hums and beeps creating a symphony of medical surveillance.

He needed answers, and everything about this sterile room was a potential clue.

3. Sci-fi/Fantasy

In the celestial infirmary of Aeloria, walls shimmered with iridescent lights, and the air pulsed with ancient magic.

Elara, the moon sorceress, lay on a floating bed, her aura flickering like a candle nearing its end.

Surrounding her were crystal devices, pulsating and humming in an ethereal dance. Lyric, her apprentice, whispered an incantation, her voice intertwining with the mystical ambiance, hoping to revive her mentor with a blend of ancient spells and cosmic medicine.

Final Thoughts: How to Write Hospital Scenes

Crafting a compelling hospital scene is an intricate dance of authenticity, emotion, and meticulous detail.

For more insights on writing stories, please check out the other articles on my website.

How to Write Flashback Scenes (21 Best Tips + Examples)
How to Foreshadow Death in Writing (21 Clever Ways)
How to Write Fast-Paced Scenes: 21 Tips to Keep Readers Glued
How to Describe Crying in Writing (21 Best Tips + Examples)

Write that Scene

May your writing spirit live on forever

How to Write a Hospital Scene

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In a rush? Skip to part three…..

There are two different types of hospitals. Mental Hospital and the regular hospital we’ve all been in. For this scene in particular I will be focusing on the latter.

» A. Explain to your audience why the character(s) is in the hospital and whether or not it’s for them or a friend/family member.

I. What does the character bring and how long do they wait? Is it in the ER which is for emergencies or is in the regular waiting room. Please note: if someone was shot or given birth or the like, this person would get priority treatment in the ER.

II. Kids under the age of 18 would likely be on a pediatric ward. There are exceptions, for instance if the injuries sustained were severe enough to be in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) or possibly the step down unit. If they had to be revived but had no other injuries, they probably wouldn’t even be admitted to the hospital.

III. What happens in the waiting room, if anything? Are confessions made, friends met, someone arrested, or nothing because the person goes straight to a room? Any complaints made out of frustration or anguish?

IV. How is (whatever they are experiencing) affecting them? Were the character(s) on a adrenaline high after breaking their arm from falling off a motorcycle but now is feeling the pain? If so, have them scream in pain, cry, hit something, bit their lip, breath in and out hard. Let’s say they have a disease, then maybe they are praying, holding the hand of their loved one tight, closing their eyes, rocking back and forth in their chair, etc. If they are waiting for someone then maybe they do the same things as mentioned above.

Example 1: (Coming Soon).

» B. What do the doctors/ surgeons have to say? Anything good or all bad news? .

Note: The following can occur-

The doctor would say everything is okay and nothing needs to be done. Patient accepts and walks out. Maybe something minor is done like a cast for a sprain or a scan to check if any bones are broken. Even then, the character is fine and walks out free.
The doctor tells the patient everything is fine but the patient doesn’t believe them. They demand a second opinion or to be rechecked.
Doctor finds something wrong with the patient and character needs to stay in order to be diagnosed. Or leaves out the hospital with pills, in a wheel chair, or surgery schedule for something major (if that has not already occurred in the ER).

I. If the doctor finds nothing wrong with the character and the character agrees you can add the following in order to progress your story along: maybe a family member demands a recheck; or another doctor comes in with bad news of their own and apologizes that the other doctor almost missed the problem; a hug between the doctor and patient is given; or another problem is diagnosed that is not related to what your character came in to the hospital for.

II. If the character doesn’t believe the doctor; you can add the following: character becomes uncontrollable and becomes an endangerment to everyone around; therefore they are taken to a mental hospital; character continues to argue with doctor and if character is educated discuss why the doctor is wrong; character goes through another checkup to make sure they are free of anything. Maybe the results come back with something wrong.

NOTE: To be admitted into psychiatric care one has to meet a certain criteria. So the character could then be admitted after being in the hospital and after being assessed by a professional.

III. If something is found, then doctors may do even more checks with various devices such as MRI, ultrasound, EMG (for nerve tests), and so on. Be sure to identify the appropriate tests your character will take depending on their circumstance. Someone coming in for a cold will not need any scans unless the cold has lasted a month or several months. Maybe the patient has more symptoms than a cold and will get a test done. Don’t forget about blood tests.

Now, if something is found the doctor should tell the character how they will treat them and what are the next steps. Cancer has chemo therapy. Cysts and odd lumps has surgery and aspiration. Colds have medicine and a disease usually has pills. There is more to it than that, this is where you would have to do a bit more research.

Use this as a chance to bring multiple generations together. When a loved one is in crisis, usually their whole family unites, bringing a mix of personalities into the same place at the same time. The scene would flow naturally from there, based on the characters’ relationships to each other and primary motivations.

(Coming Soon).

» C.Emotions Cannot Be Ignored! !

I. It doesn’t matter what the doctor told your character, good or bad, what is your character feeling? As if a massive truck has been lifted from their shoulders when they found out their disease is curable.

II. If bad, what do they do, how are they feeling? Does the world stop, do they faint, do they become a statue. Now is the time to give you audience background about why your character took the news the way the did. Example:

III. What is promised to the character from the doctor? Usually a promise is made like, you will get better or it will not affect your work. Little promises that can mean a lot. So, have the doctor promise your character something that is important to your story. If your character is an athlete your doctor may promise him/her they will be able to play the sport again in a few short months. If your character is a singer and has laryngitis, the doctor may promise that even though their voice sounds like a pen scratching chalkboard now, she/her will be able to sing again. This promise is important because it gives the reader a since of the emotional aspect but also the technical aspect. Meaning, there is a cure for their problem. However, if the problem has no treatment then the doctor may promise them this: I will be with you along the way…. You still have a few short months to live… there is a cure being found in east Asia maybe in a few months they will allow me to use it on you.

Example 3: (Coming Soon).

Get into that atmosphere. Let it play a key roll in this scene. These examples will be primarily for the ER but can be used for others.

» A. Describe the room…

Low light on at all times, and there are cords hanging down for the nurses call button and the IV solutions.
An electronic machine sitting on a cart with odd wires leading from it,a privacy curtain hanging from a track on the ceiling.
The bedside table has several get well cards and a bouquet of flowers.
There is an aqua colored water glass with a bent straw in it, a half eaten tray of food with the big metal cover that was on the plate, and a telephone that doesn’t work.
Door is propped open, and nurses and orderlies walk by, their sensible shoes squeaking on the pristine tiles.
A TV hangs in the corner, tuned to the Reverend Bob H. Wells- who thinks you should write him a large check for a blessing- because the remote control is lost, and the TV is too high for the nurses to reach.
There are wires glued to the character’s chest and coming up through the neck of their hospital gown…the most embarrassing garment invented that has no back and lets every human know what the underwear look like.
The window has a mini blind on it, and a view of the roof of an adjoining building.
For those of you in a rush, here is some bits and pieces of What a Hospital Scene Will Contain:

» A. Entering the hospital:

Nurses trying to be helpful, directing you to where you would like to go.
The floor is shining clean, long corridors.
Signs in green saying EXIT.
Rooms with numbers on the doors.
Some doors are open and you can see the patient according to their situation, could be sleeping, visiting with a
relative, others with oxygen tubs applied at their noses.
At the Nurses Desk lots of laugh although the rule is of “Shhh”.
Nurses no longer wearing white starched uniforms neither white shoes or stocking go and come, many with dirty
tennis shoes, and instead of the uniform wear just regular half shirts .
The rooms could be private ( one patient in it) others could be semi-private ( two patients in one room)
Also it can be a Ward, meaning a long row of beds for a Charity Ward, this one is very sad to see.
If the doctors have the rounds they stop to check the chart of each patient.
When the person is bleeding or in with a heart attack they are taking immediately to the attention of the Physician on duty.
Describe the journey back home. Whether after a surgery or a general checkup.

» A. Leaving the doctors room, how does your character act?

I. Is their head hanging low from shame and sadness, head up high in pride and happiness? Hands clapped together for peace or in pockets for failure, remorse? Silent? Rejoicing to the high heavens?

II. Do they go home alone and if so where do they stop on the way? Are they so grateful for life that they say sorry to their mortal enemy. Do they go to a church to repent? Do they go home to do research on their problem? Do they call a friend? III. Maybe you can have the character speak to someone on the way out. Tell that person everything would be okay, or an update about their visit, or something to leave an imprint. Especially if a truck has been lifted off their shoulder. IV. Lastly, how is the news broken or given to their loved ones? In person? At the hospital where everyone gives a big hug of congratulations or sadness? Show who is important to your character and how they share the news with them. It will show a more-in-depth look at your character. The best way to understand anyone is when they are going through a crises. Show your audience who your character truly is and how they handle their news. Example 7: (No Example Added- but you can add one for your scene).

** !You might have to scroll down the textbox with your mouse!

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Chat Room [wise-chat]

6 thoughts on “ How to Write a Hospital Scene ”

I need this one to complete my book PLZ I need a outline

I will try to finish it by the end of this month, Amayah.

Hi! I can’t even begin to explain how AMAZINGLY HELPFUL this site is. I can use so many of these little pages; kidnaping for about 3-5 different stories of mine (also the starving one), the hospital one for the aftermath of the rescue. The “falling in love” one for young teenagers, and then the “first date” for two people who finally admit their feelings for each other.

I can use the funeral one for at least 2 stories. The dying, car crash, saying goodbye, flying, wedding, I mean this is like the best early Christmas present I’ve ever gotten. It’s all the help I need for my 12+ story in one place! I can’t believe I’ve only just now found this site, and I will DEFINITELY link it to my profile so my fellow readers can come and get help.

Thank you, thank you, thank you so much! Who’s ever idea this one to make this webpage is a genius! 🙂

Glad to be of help, Reagan! Happy Holidays 🙂

MMMM. That was nice. But it didn’t let me combine the test. Is okay tho, found this Super helpful!!! ten out of ten, will definitely use this again.

Very helpful. What about an example of paramedics bringing into the ER a seriously injured victim of, say, a car crash, where they have suffered multiple fractures and perhaps have some internal bleeding. What would be some of the things the paramedic would report to the ER team? Who would be present and what would they be doing and saying from the moment the paramedics roll the gurney into the ER, the handover to ER staff, and perhaps even the initial few minutes of care in the ER?

How did your character writing go yesterday? Did you learn any interesting lessons about creating a character with a strong desire, that you can carry forward into your future stories? Did you leave a comment or post in the community ?

Today we’re focusing on setting.

You still need to include fully-realized characters, each with specific (and possibly opposing) desires. (For example, your patient might just want to go home. Their doctor probably wants them to stay put for now. Their next-of-kin might have a whole other set of issues and the nurses probably just want to go somewhere quiet and put their feet up for a few minutes…)
Make the setting integral to the story. Have events that could only happen in this high-tension setting.
Use all your senses to set the scene — everyone talks about the smell and the colors of hospitals, but what about the noises? I heard a news story on the radio recently about the incessant beeping of alarms in hospitals. That was something I wouldn’t otherwise have thought of. And again, someone once told me how it hurt them that their child’s hospital blanket felt so rough. All they could think of was getting a fuzzy blanket for the child. These are the kinds of details that bring a story alive.
If this setting doesn’t work for you, check out these other prompts I’ve provided with different (possibly more cheerful) settings.

8 thoughts on “[Writing Prompt] Setting The Scene”

Better late than never! I don’t think I incorporated enough setting details, though. My characters decided to take over the scene! http://carriegreen.tumblr.com/post/85580664028/a-story-a-day-in-may-9-5-9-14

Didn’t think this prompt was going to speak to me, but, boy, did it! =) Happy to have my first synthetic-life story of the month.

Day #9– “She Asked If I Would Rust”, 1903 words. http://idreamagain.wordpress.com/2014/05/09/day-9-she-asked-if-i-would-rust/ Password: scribophile

well, back on track after yesterday’s distractions did not allow for the prompt. short story today, but it has the possibility of growing into something bigger

Excellent. I foresee a June/July of reworking and revising for a lot of us!

I didn’t want to write this prompt. All my ideas were dreadfully sad. It’s not my favorite, but it’s written. It’s not even too incredibly sad!!!

Glad you found a way to escape the sadness!

yesterday (Day 8) was very interesting. My character and his desires evolved from real incidents that happened to real people but all of them rolled into one. I feel like the story may have needed more to complete it but I liked the development of it. Writing out 15 ways the character could achieve the desire was an interesting exercise and very useful for generating potential story lines. I tried a few de bono’s hats in the exercise to loosen up my own -what I would actually do vs what my character could do. Great prompts thank you.

Oh, that’s a good idea: what I would do vs what my character would. I read an article once that recommended thinking about people who scare you and what THEY would do. That was useful, because until then I hadn’t found a way into thinking through the actions of someone whose ethics and actions didn’t match my own.

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Tips For Writers

August 20, 2013

Writing about: hospitals.

This is a picture of . . . my arm when I was in the ER due to heart problems.

"Once you plant yourself on one of the pews, cushioned in that churchly color of maroon red, you almost forget about all of the illness and sickness residing merely footsteps away from the Chapel. The altar literally sits directly below the statue of the blessed Mother. The Chapel is always open for patients, visitors and associates. It is a place of scripture, worship and prayer from which comfort, grace and blessing flow into the halls and rooms of Lourdes. My favorite part about having the Chapel located right in the center of the hospital is if I need to take a walk or stretch my legs after sitting with my mother for several hours straight, I simply take a few strides to the heart of Lourdes, and reflect as I gather my thoughts in prayer. It truly serves as my gateway to a better understanding and affirmation that my mom's struggles will soon be lifted."

TIP: If you're like a fellow blogger who commented and you're writing a story set in the future, I can't really tell you what the medical field will be like, but I imagine people will still act the same so you can still use these tips for your characters. But if you follow this link: http://bit.ly/1bOrbDR you can see what a hospital room can look like.

16 comments:

Having spent yesterday in hospital while my son had an operation, your article was incredibly apt. What I noticed most yesterday were the people - staff, patients and families - and the smells.

Thank you, Fi! I was able to write this article based off a lot of experience. I really hope your son is doing okay after his operation! <3

I relate to your post on so many levels. Thankfully, I have never been a patient, but my mother and tragically, my aunt, both have. We lost my aunt last month to lung and breast cancer. And my mother has been in and out of the hospital for two years now due to liver failure and a transplant. I've become accustomed to all of the different staff members and their moods, as well as the various smells that you come across from one floor to the next. My favorite part of the hospital where my mom stays is the church. Its beauty and divinity bring me a sense of solace when I need to be by myself in prayer for my mother and the rest of the patients. Your post today is very helpful for writers who need to build a strong connection for the reader. And if anyone needs any further assistance, please don't hesitate to ask me! You mentioned that you, too, have had experience within the hospital, Chrys. I hope nothing serious but would love to hear more about it. Sometimes, it's good to talk to someone about these things. Thanks for sharing!

I'm sorry for your loss, Gina! And I am praying for your mother! Your posts about what you and your mother are going through are so moving. I'm glad that you (and Fi) were able to relate to this post because it confirms that I did it correctly. I've never been inside a hospital's church/chapel before since I've always been a patient, but that could be another place a character can go in a hospital. If you would like to write a couple of small paragraphs about a hospital chapel, I will add it to this post, include your name and the link to your blog. It would be a great addition! The longest I was in the hospital was for five days for spine surgery. I included a link at the bottom of the post to a story I wrote about my experience. My story starts on page 5 (at the bottom). I've also had two other minor surgeries, so I've had quite a bit of experience as a patient. Thank you for your comment! I really appreciate it!

Your prayers mean so much to us and I can't say thank you enough. They are the greatest gift and act of kindness that someone can give to another human being. My mother always asks me to thank those who pray for her so I'm sending a BIG Thank You from her, Cecilia. I would love to write a few small paragraphs regarding the chapel inside of the church. As soon as I have this ready for you, I will email you. I would also love to hear more about your experience, but I can't find the link at the bottom. If you wouldn't mind sending it to me, I'd appreciate it! I just noticed your FB below so I'm heading over there now. It's my pleasure to come by here!

Praying is the least I can do. :) Tell your mom she's welcome, and that I hope she will be in tip-tip shape soon! <3 Your paragraphs will really add to this post. I'm excited to read what you write, so maybe when I write about a hospital again I can put one of my characters in a chapel. :) Here is my email: [email protected] And here is the link to my essay: http://www.thewriteplaceatthewritetime.org/images/Winter-Spring_2013_-_Our_Stories.pdf You will have to scroll down to the bottom of page five. It is titled "Woman of Steel". And thank you very much for visiting and liking my page. I am truly happy to build a friendship with you. :)

This is great. The story I am working on right now has a character that visits his mother in the hospital, only this is 40 years in the future. So, I have to somehow think up how hospitals will look like in 40 years.

Hello, KC! I am glad this post can assist you with your story. Writing about futuristic hospitals will be tricky. I went on a little hunt to help you out. Here is a link of a picture of what a hospital room could look like based off a design by the American Medical Association and the Apple Store: http://bit.ly/1bOrbDR And then I found this general outlook for what the world would be like in 2050-2059: http://www.futuretimeline.net/21stcentury/2050-2059.htm GOOD LUCK! :)

Thank you for sharing my post about the Chapel inside of Lady of Lourdes Hospital; that means so much to me, Chrys! The next time I go to there to visit my mom, I'm going to show her nurses and some of the doctors. They will love it! I never realized how much the hospital and Chapel affected me until spending so much time there. Your advice and techniques are going to help a lot of authors who need to create these kinds of settings. Especially when they have to search deeply enough to make the reader feel everything that the patient and other characters are going through.

Knowing that this post means a lot to you, and that you're going to show it to your mom's nurses and some doctors fills me with so much pleasure! Thank you for your kind words! Helping writers to write these sense authentically for patients (both real and fictional) was my goal, and having confirmation that it does makes me so happy. :) Give your mom a gentle hug for me. <3

Those are good points that will help writers to create the correct atmosphere with their descriptions.

Thank you! :)

Really helpful I'm writing a story where one of the characters falls off a balcony and ends up in the ICU, and that was really, really helpful.

Sounds like an interesting story. And yikes for your character! Good luck with your hospital scenes!

Please help me. My character was stabbed and was passed out in the hospital for three days. 1. Is a feeding tube necessary? 2. Is three days too long? Thanks!

Unconscious is a better term than "passed out." :) I'm not e medical professional. Usually the most during that time period they;d have is an IV and a catheter. It would be best if you did this research for yourself, though. You could probably find the answer on Google.

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Writing Medical Scenes: Really Useful Links by Paul Anthony Shortt

Paul anthony shortt.

24 August 2017

Hospitals, injuries, and medical emergencies are common throughout multiple genres of fiction, and it’s easy to see why. When a character is hurt or sick, this creates instant tension and can have an impact on how the rest of the story goes. Everyone has experiences of injury and illness, whether directly or from a friend or loved one going through it. So we have an immediate connection once we see that a character needs medical help.

But, while everyone knows what it’s like to get hurt or be sick, only a select few of us have the knowledge, experience, and training to know how wounds are treated, what medical practices need to be followed, and how things operate behind the scenes in a hospital. Most of us will get our “knowledge” of this from television, which can frequently be wrong, as we’ve learned in previous articles.

So here are some places you can go to sharpen up your medical knowledge for your writing.

(Please note, none of the articles I’m sharing are intended to replace actual medical training; if you or anyone you know gets hurt or is seriously ill, please seek proper medical help.)

1: Dumbest Medical Mistakes – You can’t beat first-hand knowledge. Allnurses-Breakroom is an online community for nurses, and this discussion thread is a goldmine of little mistakes that you can avoid.

2: How to Write a Hospital Scene – Writethatscene.com offers structure and writing advice for a range of different scenes. In this article they break down the important elements that go into a hospital scene.

3: Not Quite Dead – If your character needs medical attention, what was the reason? You don’t just need to know how their injuries will be treated, you also need to know how their injuries will affect them, directly.

4: Infusing Medical Details Into Your Fiction – This guest post by retired physician Richard Mabry is littered with the kind of small details that help bring your writing to life, along with some good advice about how to present these details in a natural and accessible way.

That’s all for this week. Good luck!

About the author

Paul Anthony Shortt believes in magic and monsters; in ghosts and fairies, the creatures that lurk under the bed and inside the closet. The things that live in the dark, and the heroes who stand against them. Above all, he believes that stories have the power to change the world, and the most important stories are the ones which show that monsters can be beaten.

Paul’s work includes the Memory Wars Trilogy and the Lady Raven Series . His short fiction has appeared in the Amazon #1 bestselling anthology, Sojourn Volume 2.

Website: http://w ww.paulanthonyshortt.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pashortt

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HOSPITAL (INTERIOR)

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How to write a hospital death scene without sentimentalism?

The cliché scene where a man dies on the hospital bed and ECG goes "beep beep beep" is seen by everyone in movies. The problem is that someone told me that I go too sentimental in scenes like these while writing. How can I write hospital death scenes in a more creative way?

creative-writing

4 Welcome to Writing! Is it the cliche you're looking to avoid or the sentimentality in particular? – motosubatsu Commented Mar 18, 2021 at 13:44
2 The question is about avoiding clichéed sentimentalism. It's ok. – Erk Commented Mar 18, 2021 at 17:59

3 Answers 3

If you like the sentimentalism, do that. It’s not good to let others tell you that you are too much this or too much that in your writing, but what is important is whether what you’ve written is up to your standards and special to you.

3 Agreed. It might be prudent to ask this beta reader to explain this, since we aren't him/her and "too sentimental" is not really good criticism. Sentimentalism is supposed to invoke previous experiences. One of the best works of fiction handling death for me, was the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "The Body" which doesn't include the ECG machine... but does have the cast in the waiting room of the hospital morge. What makes it great for me, is I about the same age as the characters when I lost a parent and it gave voice to all those emotions that run through your mind. – hszmv Commented Mar 18, 2021 at 15:48
1 Unfortunately, this gets into subjective matters of taste. OP is not wrong to write sentimentally, but the beta reader is not wrong to dislike it, either. OP might be better off finding a different beta reader. – Kevin Commented Mar 18, 2021 at 18:57

Death is Drama:

Unless you're trying to be funny or ironic, death is drama. A hated rival dying. Your 112-year-old great-grandmother who's been out of it for 40 years dying. A completely unknown stranger dying alone except for a few nurses who don't even know the person's name. So there is little you can do to change the drama.

But the story isn't so much about the dying as it is the people and their reaction to the death. If you want to avoid stereotypes and clichés, don't have people doing stereotypical things (sitting at the bedside, holding hands, saying goodbye) but instead have all the reactions going on outside the room. The hospital cafeteria is a great place, as people go there to meet over food. People often go for a walk around the area of the hospital, even without coats and in crappy weather. Most floors in a hospital have some kind of waiting room. To avoid stereotypes, NEVER have anyone speak to the doctor.

And waiting is a bit of a cliché, yet that's what a lot of dying is about. A lot of death is slow, with time to reflect on life. A lot of time is just spent feeling overwhelmed and not sure what to do. If a person dies suddenly, there is little waiting for death, but instead waiting for funeral arrangements, casket-picking times, waiting for the florist to call you back, or waiting for Aunt Estelle to leave your house so you can make dinner.

Or you can have a very atypical death process with atypical responses. Listen to Paul Simon's song Mother and Child Reunion for example. Or you can have the scene centered around organ-harvesting for donation while the body is alive but the brain is dead. It can have a somewhat positive tone in a very bleak situation. An endocannibalistic funeral centered on eating the person quickly after death will be REALLY different, but could have unique cultural perspectives (I decided to go this route in a story just for the thrill/challenge of making it sympathetic). People can get pretty crazy around death, so envision someone refusing to acknowledge the person is dead and telling the other family members the person is resting comfortably and will be available tomorrow when they feel better.

Or you can embrace some of it. Death is a really weird thing in most people's lives, unless you're writing some variety of action story with lots of killing - and at that point, you're desensitizing your reader. If you are killing off a really beloved character, having a loving family circling their bed and crying is a cherished and fitting sendoff more beloved than a Viking funeral. It's your character's reward for all the crap and death you put them through to give you a good story.

Seinfeld did this:

At the hospital. Doctor: Excuse me, are you the husband? George: Well, not yet - Fiancé. Doctor: Well, I'm sorry... she's gone. George: .........What's that?... Doctor: She expired. George: ... Are you sure? Doctor: Yes, of course. George: So... She's dead? Doctor: Yes. George: ... Huh! Doctor: Let me ask you; Had she been exposed to any kind of inexpensive glue? George: ...Why? Doctor: We found traces of a certain toxic adhesive commonly found in very low priced envelopes. George: Well she was sending out our wedding invitations. Doctor: That's probably what did it. George: We were expecting about two hundred people... Well... Thank you, thank you. Doctor leaves, George returns to the others George: She's ahem... gone Jerry: Dead? Elaine: I'm so sorry, George. Jerry: Yeah! Me too. Kramer: Poor Lily. Jerry: How did it happen? George: Apparently the glue in the wedding invitations was... toxic. All: Aah! Kramer: Well that's weird. Jerry: So I guess, you're not getting married? George: (embarrassed with a touch of unrestrained jubilation) Yes. [...Some talk about the other plot removed for space...] Elaine: All right. (they start to leave except Jerry) George: Well hmm... let's get some coffee.

So not really without making it come off humorous or the characters involved come off as jerks.

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SLAP HAPPY LARRY

Writing activity: describe medical rooms and hospitals.

William Simpson – One of the wards of the hospital at Scutari 1856

Medical rooms and hospitals are safe, infantalising, dangerous, creepy, life-saving, traumatising places, and I offer them here as examples of what Foucault called ‘ heterotopia ‘.

The hospital’s ambiguous relationship to everyday social space has long been a central theme of hospital ethnography. Often, hospitals are presented either as isolated “islands’ defined by biomedical regulation of space (and time) or as continuations and reflections of everyday social space that are very much a part of the “mainland.’ This polarization of the debate overlooks hospitals’ paradoxical capacity to be simultaneously bounded and permeable , both sites of social control and spaces where alternative and transgressive social orders emerge and are contested. We suggest that Foucault’s concept of heterotopia usefully captures the complex relationships between order and disorder, stability and instability that define the hospital as a modernist institution of knowledge, governance, and improvement . Heterotopia Studies

I followed [the psychiatrist] down a depressing hallway into a tiny windowless office that might have housed an accountant. In fact it reminded me a bit of Myron Axel’s closet, filled with piles of paper waiting to be filed, week-old cups of coffee turned into science experiments, and a litter of broken umbrellas nesting beneath the desk. I must have looked as surprised as I felt when I entered her office, for Rowena Adler looked at the utilitarian clutter about her and said, “I’m sorry about this mess. I’m so used to it. I forget how it looks.” Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You by Peter Cameron

The author may have enjoyed writing that description because at James Sveck’s next appointment they are in a different room.

Dr Adler’s downtown office was a pleasanter place than her space at the Medical Center, but it wasn’t the sun-filled haven I had imagined. It was a rather small dark office in a suite of what I assumed were several small dark offices on the ground floor of an old apartment building on Tenth Street. In addition to her desk and chair there was a divan, another chair, a ficus tree, and some folkloric-looking weavings on the wall. And a bookcase of dreary books. I could tell they were all nonfiction because they all had titles divided by colons: Blah Blah Blah: The Blah Blah Blah of Blah Blah Blah . There was one window that probably faced an airshaft because the rattan shade was lowered in a way that suggested it was never raised. The walls were painted a pale yellow, in an obvious (but unsuccessful) attempt to “brighten up” the room.

I looked around her office. I know it sounds terrible, but I was discouraged by the ordinariness, the expectedness, of it. It was as if there was a catalog for therapists to order a complete office from: furniture, carpet, wall hangings, even the ficus tree seemed depressingly generic. Like one of those little paper pellets you put in water that puffs up and turns into a lotus blossom. This was like a puffed-up shrink’s office.

In a book of essays, Tim Kreider’s description of hospitals is one of the best I’ve encountered:

Hospitals are like the landscapes in recurring dreams: forgotten as though they’d never existed in the interims between visits, but instantly familiar once you return. As if they’ve been there all along, waiting for you while you’ve been away. The endlessly branching corridors sand circular nurses’ stations all look identical, like some infinite labyrinth in a Borges story. It takes a day or two to memorize the route from the lobby to your room. The innocuous landscape paintings that seem to have been specifically commissioned to leave no impression on the human brain are perversely seared into your long-term memory. You pass doorways through which you can occasionally see a bunch of Mylar balloons or a pair of pale, withered legs. Hospital beds are now just as science fiction predicted, with the patient’s vital signs digitally displayed overhead. Nurses no longer wear the white hose and red-cross caps of cartoons and pornography, but scrubs printed with patterns so relentlessly cheerful—hearts, teddy bears, suns and flowers and peace signs—they seem symptomatic of some Pollyannaish denial. The smell of hospitals is like small talk at a funeral—you know its function is to cover up something else. There’s a grim camaraderie in the hall and elevators. You don’t have to ask anybody how they’re doing. The fact that they’re there at all means the answer is: Could be better. I notice that no one who works in a hospital, whose responsibilities are matters of life and death, ever seems hurried or frantic, in contrast to all the freelance cartoonists and podcasters I know. Time moves differently in hospitals—both slower and faster. The minutes stand still, but the hours evaporate. The day is long and structureless, measured only by the taking of vital signs, the changing of IV bags, medication schedules, occasional tests, mealtimes, trips to the bathroom, walks in the corridor. Once a day an actual doctor appears for about four minutes, and what she says during this time can either leave you and your family in terrified confusion or so reassured and grateful that you want to write her a thank-you note she’ll have framed. You cadge six-ounce cans of ginger ale from the nurses’ station. You no longer need to look at the menu in the diner across the street. You substitute meat loaf for bacon with your eggs. Why not? Breakfast and lunch are diurnal conventions that no longer apply to you. Sometimes you run errands back home for a cell phone or extra clothes. Eventually you look at your watch and realize visiting hours are almost over, and feel relieved, and then guilty. Tim Kreider, “An Insult To The Brain”, We Learn Nothing

It’s a fact known throughout the universes that no matter how carefully the colours are chosen, institutional décor ends up either vomit green, unmentionable brown, nicotene yellow or surgical appliance pink. Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites

They are now the only two people in the upstairs waiting room of the dental clinic. The seats are a pale mint-green colour. Marianne leafs through an issue of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC and explores her mouth with the tip of her tongue. Connell looks at the magazine cover, a photograph of a monkey with huge eyes. from “At The Clinic” by Sally Rooney

Every time I see a hospital in a horror movie or whatever, sometimes even an actual prison, I compare it to the one I went to and it always comes out looking worse. They are not relaxing places. They can leave you worse than you came in. Especially because the world outside, doesn’t actually stop while you are there? You’re usually there due to a crisis. Something unexpected. Did you take vacation pay before you started? Probably not, hey? Provided that you get that sort of thing at all. If you’re on welfare, you’re still have to fight for an exemption. Good luck if you can’t do that because you’re literally insane. You’ll still need to pay the rent and all your bills somehow in the background too. Oh, you got kicked out? That’s a shame. Here’s a pamphlet to a homeless shelter. Have a lovely trip. My stay did turn out a lot better than that, but it’s literally only because I had someone constantly advocating for me on the outside. Most people in psych wards don’t get that. And that’s not even touching on how nobody will listen to you in there, but everybody will assume all sorts of things about you. You’ll be open to both sexual and physical assault. Both happened to me on a number of occasions. I was blamed for everything, of course. You don’t even get uninterrupted sleep, do you know that? Nurses come and shine a torch in your face every fucking hour for a wellness check, or whatever. Which feels pretty shitty if you’re going through a paranoid psychosis. Anyway. I’d really like to see more empathy and awareness of the reality of all these sorts of places. They are horrible. They haven’t changed a lot since they were called asylums. They still use solitary confinement too, did you know that? Awful things. Mx Maddison Stoff @TheDescenters Sep 8, 2022

The Architecture of Madness

Elaborately conceived, grandly constructed insane asylums—ranging in appearance from classical temples to Gothic castles—were once a common sight looming on the outskirts of American towns and cities. Many of these buildings were razed long ago, and those that remain stand as grim reminders of an often cruel system. For much of the nineteenth century, however, these asylums epitomized the widely held belief among doctors and social reformers that insanity was a curable disease and that environment—architecture in particular—was the most effective means of treatment. In The Architecture of Madness: Insane Asylums in the United States (U Minnesota Press, 2007), Carla Yanni tells a compelling story of therapeutic design, from America’s earliest purpose—built institutions for the insane to the asylum construction frenzy in the second half of the century. At the center of Yanni’s inquiry is Dr. Thomas Kirkbride, a Pennsylvania-born Quaker, who in the 1840s devised a novel way to house the mentally diseased that emphasized segregation by severity of illness, ease of treatment and surveillance, and ventilation. After the Civil War, American architects designed Kirkbride-plan hospitals across the country. Before the end of the century, interest in the Kirkbride plan had begun to decline. Many of the asylums had deteriorated into human warehouses, strengthening arguments against the monolithic structures advocated by Kirkbride. At the same time, the medical profession began embracing a more neurological approach to mental disease that considered architecture as largely irrelevant to its treatment. Generously illustrated, The Architecture of Madness is a fresh and original look at the American medical establishment’s century-long preoccupation with therapeutic architecture as a way to cure social ills. interview at New Books Network

The Architecture of Good Behavior: Psychology and Modern Institutional Design in Postwar America

Inspired by the rise of environmental psychology and increasing support for behavioral research after the Second World War, new initiatives at the federal, state, and local levels looked to influence the human psyche through form, or elicit desired behaviors with environmental incentives, implementing what Joy Knoblauch calls “psychological functionalism.” Recruited by federal construction and research programs for institutional reform and expansion—which included hospitals, mental health centers, prisons, and public housing—architects theorized new ways to control behavior and make it more functional by exercising soft power, or power through persuasion, with their designs. In the 1960s –1970s era of anti-institutional sentiment, they hoped to offer an enlightened, palatable, more humane solution to larger social problems related to health, mental health, justice, and security of the population by applying psychological expertise to institutional design. In turn, Knoblauch argues, architects gained new roles as researchers, organizers, and writers while theories of confinement, territory, and surveillance proliferated. The Architecture of Good Behavior: Psychology and Modern Institutional Design in Postwar America (University of Pittsburgh Press) explores psychological functionalism as a political tool and the architectural projects funded by a postwar nation in its efforts to govern, exert control over, and ultimately pacify its patients, prisoners, and residents. interview at New Books Network

Header painting: William Simpson – One of the wards of the hospital at Scutari 1856

CONTEMPORARY FICTION SET IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND (2023)

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How would you approach describing a hospital? (2 Viewers)

Thread starter Theglasshouse
Start date Dec 26, 2021

Theglasshouse

Dec 26, 2021

Do you watch YouTube videos? Can you explain it to me please as if I were a child which I am not? Do you watch movies and describe what is happening? The awakening the movie comes to mind. Do you read nonfiction such as autoethnography, autobiographies, journals? What would you do if you were faced to describe movement in a hospital, library, alley, and so forth? How do you know how to call hospital rooms? Where should I start my research? How would you do yours most importantly? It may take me some 4 hours to get back to this thread reply to all the advice.

Depends entirely on the headspace of the character.

I work in a hospital. Rooms are given numbers, the beginning number is often the floor. Fifth floor would usually be like 512. 517. If it is a big hospital then usually the floor means what kind of patients, like Cardiology patients are on Med-Surg floor 5, let’s say. That’s very common in the USA, anyway. Movement in a hospital? If you’re mobil, you are encouraged to walk around. If you need assistance to move to be safe, then the patient needs to call their nurse or nurses to get up. Some patients need certain safety equipment even then. During COVID visiting patients has been restricted, our hospital restricts it to 1 visitor per day during COVID surges. What specific questions do you have? What do you need to know? What kind of patient are you writing about? Are you asking to see how people study something they aren’t familiar with? If there is a place in a foreign country, I will use YouTube, Google earth, and the research area of this forum to see if I can pick someone’s brain. I wrote a piece about a certain library and spent several hours looking at pictures of it and googled events that happened there in the past. I wrote a story taking place in the Guggenheim in the 1970’s earlier this year and I have not been there, but I looked at tons of pictures and googled events there from the time period. I looked at pictures of the streets surrounding it and watched movies that had parts filmed at the Guggenheim and Central Park. I’m pretty proud because I can tell you what bakeries, beer gardens, cathedrals, shops and restaurants were on the streets in 1972 in the surrounding areas. I read tons of nostalgia blogs and a few articles in the New York Times about the area from that era or/and specifically about the exhibits and how they were received. I know what restaurants were serving and famous people who might frequent some of them. I didn’t just stop there. I know most of the free concerts going on at Central Park that year and I know the shows and poetry readings happening at National Bohemian Hall. I also watched tv shows from that year that weren’t in the area but gave me a feel for dress and talk— like the Mary Tyler Moore show. But I love my research, absolutely love it, and I didn’t want to be writing in the dark. I wanted to be able to walk around in my setting. Actually I ended up having to cut most of what I’d taken hours to write on setting, but getting the right flavor and understanding of setting can be inspiring. Let me know what you’re trying to do and I will help out if I can. I see both inpatients and outpatients so I know most areas of the hospital.

Waking into a hospital is a highly sensory experience. (I work in one, too). I would really think about your 5 senses. For me, the scent is the first thing you notice. Recirculated, dry air (almost like a humidor), antiseptic chemicals and a tinge of an odor that I’ve never been able to identify. You can almost taste it. The sounds are distinct, from staff chatter to beeping monitors to patients calling the it (with their voices or their beepers)

got2write said: Waking into a hospital is a highly sensory experience. (I work in one, too). I would really think about your 5 senses. For me, the scent is the first thing you notice. Recirculated, dry air (almost like a humidor), antiseptic chemicals and a tinge of an odor that I’ve never been able to identify. You can almost taste it. The sounds are distinct, from staff chatter to beeping monitors to patients calling the it (with their voices or their beepers) Click to expand...

Agree! I’m not a nurse either - but they are the eyes and the ears of hospital medicine. Interviewing a nurse about their perception and description of life in the hospital would probably be one of the purest ways to understand it.

Joker said: Depends entirely on the headspace of the character. Click to expand...

I had a scene in a previous manuscript that dealt with a hospital. I drew on my own experiences going into hospitals, as well as having watched a couple episodes of the original Law & Order prior to starting the scene. In those episodes, there were a couple of scenes in a hospital. I used elements from both avenues during the writing process. -JJB

I'm a nurse, but i can't tell you anything as your character/narrator is the greater part of the equation. At the moment not enough context to advise. In the UK many places in hospitals are public spaces so have a wonder around. Or if you're really committed, volunteer on a ward. Try to see it through the character's eyes. Failing that, there are reality TV type shows that follow doctors/nurses through a shift that give a sense of it. Or just write what works for the story, then make sure a healthcare professional/hospital worker of some description gives it a beta read.

What specific questions do you have? What do you need to know? What kind of patient are you writing about? Click to expand...

I work in a hospital. Rooms are given numbers, the beginning number is often the floor. Fifth floor would usually be like 512. 517. If it is a big hospital then usually the floor means what kind of patients, like Cardiology patients are on Med-Surg floor 5, let’s say. That’s very common in the USA, anyway. Click to expand...

Movement in a hospital? If you’re mobil, you are encouraged to walk around. If you need assistance to move to be safe, then the patient needs to call their nurse or nurses to get up. Some patients need certain safety equipment even then. Click to expand...

During COVID visiting patients has been restricted, our hospital restricts it to 1 visitor per day during COVID surges. Click to expand...

Are you asking to see how people study something they aren’t familiar with? If there is a place in a foreign country, I will use YouTube, Google earth, and the research area of this forum to see if I can pick someone’s brain. I wrote a piece about a certain library and spent several hours looking at pictures of it and googled events that happened there in the past. Click to expand...

Learn Exactly What Happens in a Cardiac Care Unit

wrote a story taking place in the Guggenheim in the 1970’s earlier this year and I have not been there, but I looked at tons of pictures and googled events there from the time period. I looked at pictures of the streets surrounding it and watched movies that had parts filmed at the Guggenheim and Central Park. I’m pretty proud because I can tell you what bakeries, beer gardens, cathedrals, shops and restaurants were on the streets in 1972 in the surrounding areas. I read tons of nostalgia blogs and a few articles in the New York Times about the area from that era or/and specifically about the exhibits and how they were received. I know what restaurants were serving and famous people who might frequent some of them. I didn’t just stop there. I know most of the free concerts going on at Central Park that year and I know the shows and poetry readings happening at National Bohemian Hall. I also watched tv shows from that year that weren’t in the area but gave me a feel for dress and talk— like the Mary Tyler Moore show. But I love my research, absolutely love it, and I didn’t want to be writing in the dark. I wanted to be able to walk around in my setting. Actually I ended up having to cut most of what I’d taken hours to write on setting, but getting the right flavor and understanding of setting can be inspiring Click to expand...

Waking into a hospital is a highly sensory experience. (I work in one, too). I would really think about your 5 senses. For me, the scent is the first thing you notice. Recirculated, dry air (almost like a humidor), antiseptic chemicals and a tinge of an odor that I’ve never been able to identify. You can almost taste it. The sounds are distinct, from staff chatter to beeping monitors to patients calling the it (with their voices or their beepers) Click to expand...

Agree! I’m not a nurse either - but they are the eyes and the ears of hospital medicine. Interviewing a nurse about their perception and description of life in the hospital would probably be one of the purest ways to understand it. Click to expand...

Depends on whether the character is working there, visiting, or being wheeled in on a gurney. Click to expand...

I had a scene in a previous manuscript that dealt with a hospital. I drew on my own experiences going into hospitals, as well as having watched a couple episodes of the original Law & Order prior to starting the scene. In those episodes, there were a couple of scenes in a hospital. I used elements from both avenues during the writing process. Click to expand...

I'm a nurse, but i can't tell you anything as your character/narrator is the greater part of the equation. At the moment not enough context to advise. In the UK many places in hospitals are public spaces so have a wonder around. Or if you're really committed, volunteer on a ward. Try to see it through the character's eyes. Failing that, there are reality TV type shows that follow doctors/nurses through a shift that give a sense of it. Or just write what works for the story, then make sure a healthcare professional/hospital worker of some description gives it a beta read. Click to expand...

Dec 27, 2021

@Theglasshouse Usually heart transplants don’t go to people who have had heart attacks. I mean I’ve never heard of that. They might do a bypass after a heart-attack, depending. It is HARD to get a transplant organ. Heart transplants are rare, usually reserved for young people who are in every other way healthy, so that it has the biggest possibility of success. People with transplants usually need to take steroids so their body doesn’t reject the transplant and it is an extremely risky thing to try. It can be a waiting game to get a heart. Congenital heart defects might be the #1 reason to get on a transplant list. They never go to people who have had heart-attacks that I know of--- but you'll need to do this research. Heart attacks come from blocked arteries, usually, which is why if someone’s valves are very blocked (atherosclerosis) then they get by-pass surgery before the heart-attack hits, or stents, or oblation-- is the idea. Okay, tell us about your character. If they are young? Besides congenital defects, there are other things that can happen that make transplant something that doctors are looking at—- often a sudden virus that killed off part of the heart. Sometimes post-partum cardiomyopathy (if your character is female). Sometimes patients are on ventilators waiting for the transplant and time is of the essence, actually, I know a woman who died this way, waiting months for a transplant. Extremely sad with baby twins. Her husband raises them and became an advocate of transplants/body donation. A lot depends on how accurate you want the whole thing to be as well… there are plenty of popular books and shows out there that are not medically accurate at all. House is horrible, by the way, and Grey's Anatomy and ER . Scrubs , from the worker's standpoint is more accurate. I think what bothers me the most, usually, with shows and books not medically accurate is the lack of understanding about symptoms-- you know, people running around with nasal cannulas-- "terminal" yet not experiencing any symptoms even up until death. That seems to be a common theme with young characters in romance books...well Fault in Their Stars , anyway

@Theglasshouse . Doctors go on “rounds” or visit usually around the same time each day to update you how you are and give you a plan. I might find support websites for people with heart transplants. One of the most interesting things to me about heart transplants, specifically, is stories of people’s personalities changing due to them… I find this fascinating. It doesn’t reply happen to people with other types of transplants as far as I have researched. Research is the bomb imo! Very inspiring!

indianroads

I've written a few scenes set in a hospital (one in my WIP as well), and when describing the environment I fall back on prior experience. Everyone here has probably met with unfortunate circumstances and have visited that sterile blanched place, so remember and write. Also consider the dominant sense of your POV character. Although it doesn't apply to everyone, it's been my experience that in females, scent and temperature are more dominant than in men, so if your character is a woman give those descriptors greater precedence. The mood of your character will also color your description.

Deleted member 66445

Deleted member 66022.

I have been debating whether I should share a view and having deleted the first attempt i still feel it is right to offer a view. Personally, i see a setting around a hospital unsettling because it needs to be done right, not through book/online research but first hand experience. I feel that a hospital is a place where people share their most raw emotions, whether it is joy of a birth or utter desolation in seeing a love one struggle ... and die. I don't think any amount of 'off the hands' research can ever replicate true experience and it would pain me to read a work with poor constructed views based on tv or youtube or even what others think. I have experienced the highs with the birth of my 2 kids, the complications that came from their arrival, the admiration for the staff, to waiting hours ... watching doctors and nurses on the A&E wards standing and chatting to each other with patients filling up the waiting room. I have seen my mum battle cancer for 24 years, the trips of chemo, her fear of going back, the pain of her treatments, the wards, the drive, the smell, the white buildings, the blue outfits, the poorly people in their beds. I have given my absolute thanks to the doctors during covid, who battled so hard to save my mum and never did the setting of a hospital ever concern me. Like many, the character overrides the setting, because this is a place of 'on the edge' emotions and for me it would sit unwell reading someone's interpretation of fear or worry about injury or illness if they have not experienced it first hand. I have no right to say you shouldn't write about a hospital because of what i have held throughout my life but the worry of writing about this poorly made me need to point out the dangers. It is absolutely wrong of me ... and you can write about a stale atmosphere, stressed out workforce, routines and copy/use/have inspiration from scenes anywhere but it will not be the same as those who have first hand experience. Even on ward to a visitor the experiences are different but these are experiences and hold real value.

Sorry for the wait everyone. I am typing on a tablet. I will reply to the posts in more detail in 2 more days. I left my computer behind at my house and am vacationing. Those are some interesting replies. It's a shame I did not know all this before I wrote it. I will certainly strive to be more realistic and not rely rely on tv shows. It has been a complex area of research I have picked. My main character if I would imagine his age would be a father with a 8-10 year old girl to answer the most important question I have been asked. I get this is intimidating. To write about a heart transplant is complex but I am glad I got some answers. On the 30th I will answer the questions. I am using a kindle to type my responses.

Kent_Jacobs

Dec 28, 2021

KatPC said: I have been debating whether I should share a view and having deleted the first attempt i still feel it is right to offer a view. Click to expand...

KatPC said: Personally, i see a setting around a hospital unsettling because it needs to be done right, not through book/online research but first hand experience. I feel that a hospital is a place where people share their most raw emotions, whether it is joy of a birth or utter desolation in seeing a love one struggle ... and die. Click to expand...

PrairieHostage

Theglasshouse said: Do you watch YouTube videos? Can you explain it to me please as if I were a child which I am not? Do you watch movies and describe what is happening? The awakening the movie comes to mind. Do you read nonfiction such as autoethnography, autobiographies, journals? What would you do if you were faced to describe movement in a hospital, library, alley, and so forth? How do you know how to call hospital rooms? Where should I start my research? How would you do yours most importantly Click to expand...

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Duchess-Yukine-Suoh Girl #21 Contributor

Hospital rooms.

Discussion in ' Research ' started by Duchess-Yukine-Suoh , Oct 3, 2013 .

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_dcf05e8e9bf22a8fd5d04fcf92d65eff'); }); What does a hospital room look like? In addition, if someone is going to need round-the-clock care for a while, where would you put them?

chicagoliz Contributor Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_dcf05e8e9bf22a8fd5d04fcf92d65eff'); }); They're generally pretty dingy and basic. What sort of round the clock care? Probably a hospice.

Alesia Pen names: AJ Connor, Carey Connolly Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_dcf05e8e9bf22a8fd5d04fcf92d65eff'); }); Having been in plenty myself: Linoleum floors White walls Usually two beds, most often with white sheets and a weird stale pink colored blanket Some sort of thin, patterned curtains between the beds, suspended from the ceiling on a track so they can be pulled easily Medical equipment, EKG monitors, IV racks, etc... Generally they will have one TV between the two beds. And they smell really bad, like cleaners and anti-bacterial stuff.

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_dcf05e8e9bf22a8fd5d04fcf92d65eff'); }); Of course, there's always plenty of pictures at google images. https://www.google.com/search?q=hospital+room&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=DcxNUrijLJT69gSA4ID4Cg&ved=0CCwQsAQ&biw=1356&bih=669&dpr=1 Some of these are pretty nice too as compared to the dumps I ended up in lol.

HarleyQ. Just a Little Pit Bull (female)

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_dcf05e8e9bf22a8fd5d04fcf92d65eff'); }); Are we talking rooms for adults, or minors? And what kind of round-the-clock care?

Thomas Kitchen Proofreader in the Making Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_dcf05e8e9bf22a8fd5d04fcf92d65eff'); }); I think in this case it's easier for you to visit an actual hospital yourself and ask staff members these things. Of course, I'm not aware of your situation or where you live, but that was my first thought. From the things I've read about authors and research, experts and general people seem to be quite open when talking to a writer about their experiences and thoughts. It'll be good for your other senses, too: smell, hearing, taste, touch. You can use them for your book and grab the reader's attention completely.

mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_dcf05e8e9bf22a8fd5d04fcf92d65eff'); }); liz and alesia... i've been in plenty and have also worked in one... been an inpatient in army and air force base wards and public ones you've described, on up to a fancy private one in las vegas... and i know from all this personal experience that there's a vast difference between hospital rooms here and there... and even in the same hospital... they're not all bad as the ones you've seen/experienced... is this person indigent and in a ward or 'semi-private' room?... or wealthy enough for a private room? [some are even 'suites'!] are they in icu/ccu?... or not that ill/injured?

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_dcf05e8e9bf22a8fd5d04fcf92d65eff'); }); This is true, Maia. I've heard that there are some very, very nice rooms in maternity wards in hospitals in areas that are wealthy and have a lot of competition for maternity patients. I have very little experience in hospitals. The few rooms I've seen have been depressing and cold looking. Very clinical and basic.

Uberwatch Active Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_dcf05e8e9bf22a8fd5d04fcf92d65eff'); }); Not really filthy but not appealing either. Every time I walk in a patient's room, you can smell that smell. Some sort of cleaning chemical. And you can taste the hospital food without literally tasting it. You just know what it is. Orange juice and mashed potatoes. Sorry if I am getting descriptive. What I think when I think of hospital rooms is that. So hopefully you can get an idea.

Jack Asher Banned Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_dcf05e8e9bf22a8fd5d04fcf92d65eff'); }); Uberwatch said: ↑ Every time I walk in a patient's room, you can smell that smell. Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_dcf05e8e9bf22a8fd5d04fcf92d65eff'); }); I was just going off my experiences. I've been in several different hospitals (mostly in the US and the state of CA in particular) and they all pretty much looked how I said.

jazzabel Agent Provocateur Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_dcf05e8e9bf22a8fd5d04fcf92d65eff'); }); It really depends on a ward and a hospital. Paediatric ward looks different to obstetric ward, looks different to surgical ward, looks different to ICU ward, looks different to dementia ward... You get the point. Main differences you'll see are in standard of cleanliness, how worn out/new the furnishings are, how many beds per room and what is the nurse to patient ratio. Some hospitals, you'll have patients screaming in pain, calling for help, and simply they have to wait because all the staff is busy. In others you'll have cleaners disinfect every inch of the single rooms (with a bathroom and a balcony) every four hours, everything is new and every time you press a buzzer a nurse is with you within seconds. And champagne is on the menu. Another difference is quality of food. But round the clock care (like hourly obs, which are usually vital signs measurement, blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation, temperature, urine output if they have a bag and anything else specifically related to their condition) I'd put them near the nurses' station, and if they need to be directly observed, then in view of. And if they need constant supervision, then a nurse would be sitting next to them.

erebh Banned Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_dcf05e8e9bf22a8fd5d04fcf92d65eff'); }); My uncle had a bad heart, suffered cardiac arrest while on a business trip to Denmark (or maybe Sweden) after having quadruple bi-pass surgery in Blackrock clinic in Dublin. After his Scandinavian emergency treatment he was flown by helicopter back to Blackrock. When we went to see him the foyer had it's own tropical waterfall and the reception girls were dressed more like concierges than hospital staff. The whole place was amazing, something you'd see on a Hollywood movie. It was almost tea-time when we got there and he was sitting up in bed in a suite with a leather-bound menu flicking through hundreds of channels on a massive flat screen tv! My auntie on the other didn't have such good insurance cover. She was in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit, Duchess) in a public hospital called the Maher. If any of our Dublin members are reading, they may know the building itself is a throw back to Victorian times - utterly cold and miserable which wreaked of bleach. To see her in the ICU we had to be buzzed in to a tiny chamber the size of a phone box one at a time, our shoes were sprayed with some kind of disinfectant then we'd to but blue, elasticated, plastic covers over our shoes. There was a soap dispenser with a two minuter which meant the buzzer went after 2 minutes of hand scrubbing - then we were buzzed through to the actual ICU. She was rigged up to all sorts of machines - I'm sure some of them could change the traffic lights out on the street! A nurse was seated beside her bed 24/7 watching clocks and metres and levels while her blood constantly transfused. That was scary!

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_dcf05e8e9bf22a8fd5d04fcf92d65eff'); }); duchess... the bottom line is that there is no 'standard' hospital room or round-the-clock care set-up... the differences, as you can see from our various firsthand experieces above, are so great that you can pick whichever best fits your character's medical situation and economic/social level...

T.Trian Overly Pompous Bastard Supporter Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_dcf05e8e9bf22a8fd5d04fcf92d65eff'); }); Alesia said: ↑ Usually two beds, most often with white sheets and a weird stale pink colored blanket Click to expand...

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Design Solutions To Improve Waiting In Healthcare

Different groupings of seating arrangements at Northwestern Memorial Physicians Group in Chicago, designed by Eckenhoff Saunders Architects, give patients and families choices, with options for more or less privacy.

The Cleveland Clinic Egil and Pauline Braathen Center, in Weston, Fla., designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, uses millwork dividers for separating seating areas from each other and from circulation paths.

Designed to be part of the care and wellness sequence, this waiting area at Peter Christensen Health Center in Lac du Flambeau, Wis., designed by DSGW Architects, represents the community’s culture by showcasing historic images, materials gathered on-site, and artifacts.

Access to daylight and views of nature make waiting more pleasant and less stressful at Surgical Center of DuPage Medical Group in Lombard, Ill., designed by Eckenhoff Saunders Architects.

Televisions can be segregated from other waiting areas and placed in millwork dividers at eye level, as seen here at The Christ Hospital Joint and Spine Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

With all of the things in healthcare one could worry about, how is it that waiting rooms have risen to a prominent position in the hierarchy of concerns? Yep, waiting rooms.

One of the first spaces patients and families encounter, the waiting room is traditionally considered a necessary element in every hospital and medical facility, yet it rarely drives the planning process and seldom is subjected to a rigorous review. At best, architects and planners typically follow codes and/or guidelines to determine the number of seats per whatever unit of the area it serves, and then try to make it look nice while accommodating the particular physical needs of the population who will use it. Done.

Not so fast.

Waiting is at last being seen from the patient’s point of view. It can be irritating and stressful. By now, we should all be aware that stress is contraindicated for the healing process. Stress while waiting can be a result of many factors, including nervousness or dread about the upcoming appointment or procedure; anxiety about what you’re not doing, but should be doing or would rather be doing, while you are waiting; not knowing what’s going on or when you’ll be called; or being uneasy because of the environment (uncomfortable chairs, crowding, too much noise).

And, to many, waiting is a waste of time. When patients are made to wait, it’s implied that their time is inconsequential compared to the caregiver’s time.

Interestingly, it’s not always the actual wait time that affects a patient’s mood, but the perceived wait time. Once that perceived wait time is too much, patient satisfaction drops. And providers now have an economic motivation for addressing patient wait times, with the introduction of Clinician and Group Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CGCAHPS), which addresses patients’ experience with individual providers, sites of care, medical groups, or provider networks. This survey asks patients how often they have had to wait 15 minutes or more to see a doctor. Better survey scores mean better reimbursement. So how are healthcare institutions, medical providers, and designers addressing the issues of waiting and waiting rooms? Approaches fall into three basic categories:

Make waiting more pleasant
Give patients something useful to do while they wait
Reduce or eliminate the need for waiting.

Each approach has its own array of solutions, with some solutions easier and less expensive than others.

The waiting game Make waiting more pleasant. A 2002 study conducted by Allison B. Arneill and Ann Sloan Devlin of the Connecticut College Department of Psychology and published in The Journal of Environmental Psychology found that the physical environment of a physician waiting room related to the perceived quality of care. Subjects believed the quality of care was better when they saw pictures of waiting rooms that were warm in appearance, with nice furnishings and artwork and good lighting, versus ones that were dark and unattractive. Environmental attractiveness also affects the patients’ positive impressions of interactions with staff. The most desired feeling was found to be “calm.”

Positive distractions can help patients while away their time, too. There’s a high degree of evidence that nature-based distractions (views to a garden, landscape art, a tank of colorful fish) help make patients feel calmer and more relaxed, as well as less aware of time ticking away.

But what about televisions? Some patients enjoy being glued to a set; however, many others find that being forced to listen to a TV—particularly when there’s no control over program or volume—can be very stressful and annoying. A design approach that satisfies both needs is to carve waiting spaces into TV viewing areas and TV-free areas. At the Joint and Spine Center of The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, TVs in waiting rooms aren’t hung high up on the wall but rather are accommodated in millwork that places them at eye level and segregates them from quieter areas.

Seating should be comfortable and arranged to provide options for people to choose whether to wait in a more private area or in family groups. Arms on chairs make it easier for patients to sit down and get up; chair sizes should vary in order to accommodate bariatric users. In patient and family focus groups, the Cleveland Clinic found that people particularly disliked sitting back-to-back with others, when there was a chance that the backs of their heads would come into contact. Easy and abundant access to power is also increasingly appreciated.

Finishes and fabrics should be selected for attractiveness and ease of maintenance; no one wants to sit on a stained or dirty-looking chair. They should also be considered for their contribution to the acoustics of the space, as unwanted noise can cause or exacerbate stress in patients and visitors.

Give patients something useful to do while they wait. Providing access to free services such as a blood pressure test station, a scale, or a lending library can help support patient satisfaction and reduce the perceived waiting time. Free wireless internet will assist patients using their smart phones to access health information; providers can even direct patients to their own educational materials.

At Kaiser Permanente ’s newest health centers in California, Thrive Bars, modeled after Apple’s Genius Bars, will allow waiting patients (and others) to get free information from staff on health, exercise, and nutrition. In some facilities, the traditional receptionist is replaced by a life coach, who provides the patient with a tablet computer loaded with information, magazines, and music.

Reduce or eliminate the need for waiting. Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle embraced Lean thinking and eliminated the waiting room. In a 2002 visit to Japan, Virginia Mason leaders were embarrassed to explain to a Toyota sensei that the path to patient care included a considerable wait to see the doctor, even though appointments were scheduled. Now, after a decade of attacking waste, the provider’s doctors, nurses, and medical assistants work collaboratively to manage patient flow, with arriving patients going straight to reception and then being sent immediately to an exam room.

Technology can assist, too. Self-service kiosks, such as those used for airport check-in and grocery store checkout, have been around long enough that a large portion of the population is accustomed to them and doesn’t hesitate to use them when they arrive for their medical appointments. Even more sophisticated are smart phone apps that send a notice to a concierge when the patient arrives on-site, so they can be greeted by a staff member with a tablet that has the patient’s file up and running upon entry to the building. There are also a growing number of applications for queuing systems, primarily for urgent care and emergency visits, that allow patients to wait in line at home.

The time is now There is currently a big drive to reduce or eliminate patient waiting in hospitals and physician offices, or at least to make the experience more pleasant and useful. Each situation should be looked at individually, to define the problem that needs to be solved. Designers and owners have options to employ operations, technology, and design to achieve the most appropriate solutions for waiting and waiting spaces.

Joan Suchomel, AIA, ACHA, EDAC, is the 2016 president of the American Institute of Architects’ Academy of Architecture for Health . She is a principal at Eckenhoff Saunders Architects (Chicago) and can be reached at [email protected] .

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COMMENTS

Setting Description Entry: Hospital
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» A. Explain to your audience why the character (s) is in the hospital and whether or not it's for them or a friend/family member. I. What does the character bring and how long do they wait? Is it in the ER which is for emergencies or is in the regular waiting room. Please note: if someone was shot or given birth or the like, this person would get priority treatment in the ER.
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A window with blinds. A bathroom containing a small sink, a shower, and a toilet. An adjustable hospital bed with a plastic cover and metal side rails that can be raised or lowered. White linens. Extra pillows. A television on the wall. An IV stand with saline bags. A heart monitor. A bedside table with drawers.
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Setting: HOSPITAL (INTERIOR)
Pediatrics (if the hospital treats children) containing diagnosis rooms, hospital rooms, brightly-painted walls, toys, a book area and play center. A gift shop (magazines, slippers, toiletries and comfort items, magazines, flowers, stuffed animals, get well balloons, snacks, etc.) Long, maze-like hallways, muted paint, undecorated, bright lighting.
creative writing
The hospital cafeteria is a great place, as people go there to meet over food. People often go for a walk around the area of the hospital, even without coats and in crappy weather. Most floors in a hospital have some kind of waiting room. To avoid stereotypes, NEVER have anyone speak to the doctor.
Descriptive Essay On A Waiting Room
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