Comments on: Why are hospitals associated with the colour green?

By: David Pantalony

David Pantalony — Fri, 20 May 2011 14:02:23 +0000

I did not see a reference to the “ghost effect” in the earliest articulation of this trend by SF surgeon Harry Sherman (1914) sited in my article. But it makes sense.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Mon, 16 May 2011 16:00:07 +0000

Any sources to this last comment?

By: fairykob

fairykob — Fri, 13 May 2011 09:55:28 +0000

they where painted green because there surgeons were seeing ghostly images known as the ghost effect in the white walls during an operation so they changed it to green as other commentors say aswell to calm the mood off things

By: kelvin.chen28

kelvin.chen28 — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 12:36:13 +0000

Green is a color of peace.Hospitals must maintain a peaceful environment.Patients in hospitals must be peaceful so that they will recover faster.

By: avinash anumeh

avinash anumeh — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:26:26 +0000

though green has a soothing effect on a person…..this is true …many people does not realise this but they choose to go to the morning walk in to some park or to some place which has greenery…….not only to get fresh air but the coor also give calming effect…….and more over hospitals use green because germs (many) could not cross the color green as it is most sensitive phase of light spectrum for them……..
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By: Thomas

Thomas — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:50:16 +0000

I don’t know if green is calming, but I guess psychologists and psychatrists — and job application coaches (!) — know everything about the emotional responses to different colours. That said, I believe the green-covered examination table is a Danish thing; when I came to Denmark from Sweden I heard about this ‘green table’ (‘det grønne bord’) metonym for the first time. True to its antitraditional practice, exam tables at Roskilde University weren’t green either. Are examination tables in other countries green?

By: Jonas

Jonas — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:59:57 +0000

I have heard the rumour that the colour green is also supposed to calm people. Does anybody know if this is true and if such psychological considerations had anything to do with choosing the colour green for hospital use? Personally the colour gives me another association. One that is a long way from hospitals doctors and clinics. It makes me think of the exam tables in high school. For one reason or another cloth on the tables was always green. It did not however seem so calming and soothing at the time.