A Critique of the Gratitude Canvas

Sosolimited, a design and technology studio, recently showcased a concept called the Gratitude Canvas. They describe the work as "a distributed set of digital displays that activate the entire hospital space into a place of gratitude for nurses. It allows people to leave words of appreciation for nurses by sending a text message and thanking staff in unexpected places." The concept is intended to address healthcare provider burnout which is a massive issue in the healthcare sector. Caretakers are often overburdened and feel undervalued, leading to early retirements, high stress, and high turnover that costs hospitals millions of dollars each year.

I can't help but assume what's leading to such a crisis. Working in healthcare is an extremely emotionally taxing job. You interact with multiple dozens of coworkers and patients per day. You're expected to be personable and knowledgable, having the right answers to patient questions and sometimes their unreasonable demands. Hours are high, schedules are long.

This next one isn't an assumption, I looked it up just to double check a statistic I have heard in the past. Healthcare workers have been reported to have higher rates of suicide. High stress levels and emotional exhaustion are listed as the top reasons for this.

It's hard for me not to look at the Gratitude Canvas and think "how the hell is this going to help?". It seems like a bandaid solution to a tourniquet problem. What the healthcare space desperately needs is crisis counselors on staff to support providers who've gone through traumatic events. They need ample time to decompress from high-stress work days. They need paid mandatory vacations. They need a system that allows them to spend quality time with patients and not feel rushed to get them in and out. The needs are massive and systemic and the best we can come up with is a gratitude text on a digital display on the wall? Do healthcare providers even have time to appreciate the gesture of gratitude?

It felt like Sososlimted created a solution based on what they know and not based on what is needed, but then I approached it from another angle.

The Gratitude Canvas isn't the solution. It's one part of a much larger effort. The Gratitude Canvas is a step in the right direction and sets the tone for the kind of work and thinking that needs to be done to improve the problem. While the bigger challenges still need to be addressed, Soso was able to come up with something practical, possible, and relevant to implement.

Soso is also creating a vision of an environment. Their renderings of the Gratitude Canvas in context of hospital environments are just as important as the digital displays themselves. These renderings showcase bright, clean, and modern environments that help take the edge off cold clinical spaces. It's infinitely better to be conducting your work in a space where you're surrounded by encouragment. Even if you don't read each message every time you come across a Canvas, you know that those words of Gratitude are there for you when you need them. Just knowing they are there goes a long way.

The Gratitude Canvas is a project that is much bigger than its appearance. It represents and ongoing effort to improve the lives of healthcare providers who face some of the toughest challenges in the workforce. It also represents a call to other creatives to support in this effort. For Soso to be taking on this work sets a tone for other innovative studios to get involved. The Gratitude Canvas is a win.