Do Tulips Quicken The Healing Process Essay

, Research Paper



Variable

The variable in this experiment is plants given to patients recovering from hip surgery.

Five patients will be given tulips to take care of in their hospital room, while five patients will just

undergo normal physical therapy for recovery.

Control

All of the people in this experiment will be the same age and will be recovering from the

same surgery. The patients will also be observed in a hospital setting and must stay in the hospital

until they are healed. The people in this experiment will also be the same sex. The people given

tulips will be compared against the people not given tulips. All are to undergo normal therapy

during the experiment.

Identify the Problem

The point of this experiment is to find out whether or not taking care of plants can quicken

the healing rate of a recovering surgery patient. If taking care of plants is the reason for less

healing time, then people should be able to cut hospital stays and bed rest time down by taking

care of plants.

Collect Information

An already known fact about plants is that they seem to appeal to everyone’s senses. In

experiments by the American Horticultural Therapy Association, it was discovered that touching a

plant can calm a person. This may result in people not feeling worried about their sickness or

forgetting about what is troubling them. Also, plants have the ability to evoke pleasant memories.

Studies have shown that patients are able to gather strength quicker and reduce depression by

walking in a garden on a regular basis. Research also shows that handling plants can reduce blood

pressure and feelings of stress. It is needed to find out if plants can help patients recover quicker

than usual after hip surgery. After a surgery a person may feel depressed about the fact that they

can no longer walk as they used to, but taking care of a plant may have the person feel a sense of

accomplishment that might carry over to therapy. The people with the plants may go into the

physical therapy sessions with a more positive attitude than those who do not have plants to take

care of.

State a Hypothesis

If patients are given tulips to take care of after hip replacement, then they will heal quicker

than the normal time it takes people recovering from hip replacements to heal.

Design an Experiment

1) Choose ten people who are to undergo hip surgery. The people are to have the same

operation. They are to be 67 year old females.

2) Place tulips around five of the patient’s hospital rooms after surgery for them to take

care of. Give the other five people no tulips.

3) Have each patient keep a daily journal about their progress and how they feel the plants

have affected it. If they were not assigned plants, have them keep a journal solely on their

progress.

4) Check to make sure that the five patients assigned plants are actually taking care of their

plants. Also, make sure that everyone included in the experiment is also undergoing normal

physical therapy, and all are given the same pain medication.

5) Track the progress of the people throughout the experiment. Visit each person once a

day. Ask them how their progress has been or if they have been feeling better or worse than

expected to. At the daily visits make sure that they are taking care of their plants if they have

them. Do this for one. At the end of the one week, the experiment will be over.

6) At the end of the one week, find out how their progress was. Collect the journal, but

allow them to keep the tulips if they want. The experiment will end after one week so that

everyone is given the same amount of time. The patient does not have to be completely healed at

this time.

7) Make a chart of diagram plotting each individual’s progress.

The test group must not be allowed to have more plants than they were initially given. All

people must have the same amount of visitors so that the experiment is not disrupted. If any of

these people fail to follow directions, their results will be thrown out.

The control group will not be given any tulips and will not be allowed to have any plants in

their hospital rooms.

The test group and control group are to vary because the test group is allowed to have

plants around them, while the other group must have no plants around them. The reason for this

is comparing the test group results with those of someone who does not use a plant to heal.

Carry Out the Experiment and Collect the Data

During each daily visit a report is to be taken of how well the person is feeling. Make

observations such as how much medication they are taking for pain, when they first started walking

again, and how many steps they take. Also, find out what the person’s physical therapist thinks

about their recovery process. The people should be writing this in their daily journal. At the end

of the one week, the journal is collected and the data is taken from it. The journal should say how

the person is feeling, or if they think taking care of the tulip is affecting their healing process.

Chart 1, Those people given no tulips

Amount

Healed

for Day 1 Amount

Healed

for Day 2 Amount

Healed

for Day 3 Amount

Healed

for Day 4 Amount

Healed

for Day 5 Amount

Healed

for Day 6 Amount

Healed

for Day 7

Patient 1

Patient 2

Patient 3

Patient 4

Patient 5

Chart 2, Those given tulips to take care of

Amount

Healed

for Day 1 Amount

Healed

for Day 2 Amount

Healed

for Day 3 Amount

Healed

for Day 4 Amount

Healed

for Day 5 Amount

Healed

for Day 6 Amount

Healed

for Day 7

Patient 1

Patient 2

Patient 3

Patient 4

Patient 5

After the charts are made, bar graphs can be used to plot the data. Designate on color per

person. On the y-axis, put different stages in the healing process, using the numbers one through

ten. Ten is the best a person can be feeling, while one is the worst a person can feel. The x-axis

should be labeled with the seven days of the week. Make a key identifying the different color bars.

Analyze the Data and Draw Conclusions

I believe the data will show that the people taking care of the tulips while undergoing

normal physical therapy will heal quicker than those people not taking care of tulips, and the

hypothesis will be supported. However, if the data collected shows no significant difference in the

condition of the people recovering from surgery, then the hypothesis has not been supported. The

data should show that the people taking care of the plants have a quicker healing time because they

have a better outlook on things. They feel a sense of accomplishment because they are able to take

care of a plant.