Pharmacy Front Desk

In changing the current check-out services Auckland Hospital Pharmacy provides, a new counter is being conceptualised to support these services. Through low-fi, full scale mock ups we designated areas for prescription drop-off, prescription pick-up and general retail – this was to combat the dense amount of people queuing at one time. In order to understand how three services can function within one area, we spent an afternoon protoyping the space, moving pieces around to resolve a functional and coherent setup. The key considerations that are shaping this work: being inclusive to those in wheelchairs and mobility scooters, providing privacy for those picking up prescriptions, enabling an unobstructed flow, and selecting the ideal drop-off point which is quick and easy to access.   

Pharmacy redesign: Low scale solution

Recently, we posted an article about engaging pharmacy staff in a co-design exercise, in order to improve their current service offering.

As a low scale solution and a method for gathering further insight, a few of the Lab team reorganised and decluttered the current layout and product offering in the pharmacy. This created significantly more  transparency around the prescription counter, and a much clearer flow in and out of the space. The changes have made it much easier to identify the prescription desk from outside the shop. Staff are excited by the changes and the next stage for the lab will be to gauge user response.

The first round of 115 feedback forms have been collected based on peoples' experience of the original layout, and the next data sampling will be based on the improvements. This will provide a solid foundation from which to develop more permanent and compressive improvements to the pharmacy.

Anaesthetic Cap Design

Recently, a clinician from Pharmacy at Auckland DHB approached the design lab with a pressing issue around sealing anaesthetic bottles. Current practise stores the bottles with a hose attachment to identify them as 'in use.' However the bottles drip if they are moved around.

Using rapid prototyping, a design was developed to seal the bottles quickly and easily, and exemplifies the strength of rapid prototyping low volumes. The design is currently being refined before a small batch of caps are printed for use.