But in tonight's health watch, action news anchor Margot Kim shows us how some medical centers are bringing the outside inside to help improve patient care.
Timber Branagan can run, explore, and even roll in the grass with her brother. You would never know she was at a hospital. Timber stayed here a week when she had Encephalitis. But one thing that did help, was being able to go outside.
Hospitals across the country are incorporating nature into daily care.
" To ultimately allow them to escape from the reason they might be actually in the hospital," said architect Michael Cluff.
At one children's hospital, each room has floor to ceiling windows with a view. The lighting: mostly natural and gardens, where patients have rehab sessions.
"It lifts your spirits, it encourages you, it gives you hope," said nurse Tami Anderson.
One groundbreaking study found surgery patients who faced a window with trees healed a day faster, needed less pain medication, and had fewer complications than those who faced a brick wall. Another found patients who had naturally-lit rooms experienced less stress, less pain, and required fewer medications than those in dimly-lit rooms.
