Tijdschrift/ Time Writing

December 2019

Tijdschrift/ Time Writing – ‘Waiting in Japan, China, and America’ by Siba Sahari.

Waiting, especially in the hospital, is universally perceived as tedious, but some cultures have found smart ways to approach it.  In this publication Siba Sahari explores how different cultures have found new ways to think about waiting.

She writes ‘In spite of the high-quality care they receive, patients in hospitals often have trouble waiting for their medical results and/or for their symptoms to go away. Feelings of uncertainly, passivity, and power are inherent features of a hospital stay. Together with patients, hospital employees, and social scientists, I wanted to investigate how patients’ waiting experience could be improved. I looked for answers to questions like:

How do we perceive time? Does the way we perceive time become altered in an environment such as a hospital? How can we improve the way patients and visitors experience waiting? What possibilities and limitations do you encounter when you share your space with other patients?

By involving various disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, art, theatre, architecture, and design, the relation between time and hospitals is placed in a broader context.’

Siba Sahabi – Editor in Chief