ON THE WORRY OF HOSPITALISED PATIENTS

This article relates the feedback from patients regarding the use of the Scent’Health olfactory booth and its effects on the stress associated with hospitalisation. At the Saint Vincent de Paul hospital.

1. Summary:

The objective of this work is to examine the calming effects of olfactology, offered in the Scent’Health booth, on the worry of hospitalised patients A total of 48 patients hospitalised in the departments of medicine, surgery and psychiatry at Saint Vincent de Paul hospital in Lille underwent an olfactology session lasting 20 minutes in a booth fitted out for this purpose. These patients chose one essential oil synergy among four on offer. At the end of the session, they assessed the overall quality of the care, the quality of the booth and the quality of the synergy used. The analysis of the results shows a real benefit provided by the synergies used and by the overall quality of the care.

2. Introduction:

The Saint Vincent de Paul hospital is part of the Institut Catholique de Lille hospital group. It is located in the heart of the city of Lille, providing care to hospital users from Lille, but also from neighbouring areas. This university hospital is attached to the Lille Free Faculty of Medicine and has a huge range of technical facilities including surgery departments, medicine departments, paediatric departments, psychiatric departments and a general emergency department. It accommodates full-time hospitalisation of patients suffering from diseases that are often serious and that generate a great deal of worry.

3. The worry of patients at the hospital

For many hospital users, patient hospitalisation is associated with a deterioration in their quality of life and psychological well-being, and with an increased risk of depression and anxiety symptoms. Several factors contribute to the emergence of a sub-depressive state: a poor somatic state of health, functional limitations, cognitive deterioration, a history of depression, negative life events and/or a lack of social support. In addition to the risk of depression there is a risk of developing, in a hospital setting, an anxiety disorder. The prevention of sub-depressive states in a hospital setting is therefore an important challenge, both in terms of offering tailored interventions allowing the suffering of those affected to be relieved and also in terms of preventing the appearance of a depressive disorder. Psychological distress is at the heart of sub-depressive disorders in a hospital setting. It is defined as an emotional and behavioural reaction in the face of stressful life situations such as hospitalisation, and is characterised by a collection of psychological symptoms such as poor self-image, feelings of despair, powerlessness, sadness and fear. Many of our patients, especially among the elderly, are overcome by characteristic worries such as feelings of abandonment, dependency, disengagement, fear of loss of control, fear of loss of individuality, treatment refusal and a feeling of vulnerability. Acting on these objective and subjective components using aromatherapy sessions helps in the prevention of sub-depressive states.

4. The SCENT’HEALTH space at the hospital:

Four olfactory synergies have been created by Scent’Health for hospital users. Here is the description given by the creator for the four synergies, providing information to the user of the booth so that they can make their choice.
- Synergy 1 stimulates and boosts by rebalancing the nervous system. It reinvigorates and helps one to excel.
- Synergy 2 is comparable to pure air. It transmits vital force and energy, giving a breath of oxygen. It provides clarity when one is experiencing overwork or deep tiredness.
- Synergy 3 calms one’s fears, apprehension and anxiety. It helps one to refocus on what is essential and provides serenity.
- Synergy 4 aims to provide a breath of peace, dissipating stress and bringing about the right conditions for sleep. The benzoin included in this formula produces an effect similar to receiving a big cuddle.

With this objective in mind, a booth was installed with an essential oil diffuser. This booth, equipped with a relaxing armchair, creates an enjoyable and cocooning space, the aim of which is to create an enjoyable environment for the sessions. The session is accompanied by a succession of changing colour ‘ambiances’, still with the same aim of making this moment different, peaceful and revitalising. The diffusion system developed by Scent’Health allows the biochemical qualities of each of the essential oils used to be perfectly released, for the optimum achievement of the effect being sought.

The patients were invited to come and undertake a 20 minute session, choosing one of the four synergies on offer. They came from the departments of medicine, surgery and psychiatry at Saint Vincent de Paul hospital. After the session, they were instructed to provide brief feedback regarding their experience. To this end, a follow-up table for the booth sessions was made available to them, on which each patient indicated the essential oil synergy they used and their level of satisfaction from 0 to 10 (0: very unsatisfied, 10: very satisfied), with regard to the overall quality of the care and with regard to the synergy used.

In this study, 48 patients undertook an olfactology session in the Scent’Health booth.
The raw quantitative results of our study show that:

- The mean score for the overall quality of the care was 8.27 (variance = 2.9 and standard deviation = 1.44).
- With respect to the different synergies, a more detailed analysis relating to each of the four synergies gives the following results:
1. The first synergy scored 9/10 for satisfaction. This synergy was chosen by 3 patients (variance = 0 and standard deviation = 0).
2. The second synergy scored 7.7/10 and was chosen by 10 patients (variance = 3.61 and standard deviation = 1.9).
3. The third synergy scored 7.44/10 and was chosen by 16 patients (variance = 3.5 and standard deviation = 1.87).
4. The fourth synergy scored 8.74/10 and was chosen by 19 patients (variance = 1.98 and standard deviation = 1.41).

5. Qualitative results:

The feedback reported by the patients who experienced the olfactology in the Scent’Health booth included the following comments: "relaxing smells", "it was as though I was on a cloud", "what a refreshing feeling!", "I fell asleep", "a feeling of being transported in a cloud, a feeling of protection", "I came out much less stressed", "very refreshing synergy", "one feels light, as though one is flying away", "one does not feel anything on the different parts of one's body", "breath of freshness", "a moment of travel and escape to an aquatic universe".

6. Discussion:

A hospital is a hostile environment for patients. Invasive treatments, a feeling of being at the mercy of the medical world, anxiety about the diagnosis, about the pain, about death, and about the treatments are the main preoccupations of hospitalised patients in medicine and surgery departments, but also in psychiatry departments.

The excessive workloads imposed on hospital staff, who must often work at a frenetic pace, leave little time for talking, conversing and discussion with patients; this can reinforce their isolation, their feeling of solitude, their anxiety and their sadness. Few solutions are provided for these patients, who are faced with the unknown and hostile environment of the hospital. In this stressful environment, the experiment involving the Scent’Health space has shown the highly beneficial effects of the synergies in terms of stress relief and relaxation of these patients. The synergy that was most popular and that achieved the highest score was synergy number 4. (It aims to provide a breath of peace, dissipating stress and bringing about the right conditions for sleep. The benzoin included in this formula produces an effect similar to receiving a big cuddle). It is without doubt the one that responds best to the expectations of the patients, both in terms of its name and its effects. The other synergies achieved a lower level of approval. However, the level of satisfaction achieved by these other synergies remained very high.

The comments from the patients indicate a real benefit obtained from this "active help in the well-being of the patients", with a key phrase that was repeated in a number of reports: the calming, relaxing role of olfactology and the idea of lightness, freshness and travel.

7. Conclusion:

The use of the Scent’Health olfactory booth in a hospital setting is a valuable tool that provides a suitable response to the stress experienced by hospitalised patients, who can feel isolated, and concerned about the treatments that they will be offered, about the painful anticipation of the often invasive examinations and treatments, and about their anxious glimpses into the future.

The factors that should be taken into account include the choice of synergy, but also the importance of allowing oneself a moment of relaxation and a break from treatment in a pleasant environment accompanied by a member of the medical staff. The booth offers the possibility of escaping momentarily and of releasing one’s stress, one’s anxieties, and the tensions that have accumulated from successive tests and examinations.