The lessons we learnt from prototyping Starship Outpatients.

We installed wayfinding prototypes in Starship Outpatients which has recently been refurbished. The department has a high number of different clinics running through this space on any given day. Due to this, there are a variety of patient journeys and processes. We needed to test our ideas to see what would work best to try streamline patient journeys through the space, taking into consideration current and future process changes. 

Tiled A3's were spray glued on coreflute and hung in the space. Rather than prototyping signage for the entire department, one route was chosen to test. When installed, we sought feedback from families and staff in the space, to gauge what was working, and what needed improvement. The iterative and low-fi nature of the designs meant we could quickly respond with changes.  

Going forward we're now consolidating the lessons learnt from prototyping, and incorporating these into the final design for install. 

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.

ED: Patient Pathway / Prototyping

Following our recent walkthrough of the Emergency Department, we began mapping out our current understanding of the patient journey. During this process, several ideas sprang to mind around how the patient/staff experience could be improved. A core value of the DHWLab design methodology is to quickly prototype and test ideas early in the process, before investing time in detail design. Getting ideas down on paper and efficiently mocked-up is also a great way to encourage creativity and momentum in the research process.Below is a quick prototype responding to the inadequacies of current room signage within ED, as identified by the nurse manager. Staff and patients often find it difficult to identify and locate different rooms within the department as a result of insufficient and unclear, 2D wall signage. This concept responds to these issues through a simple 3D wall-mounted sign, which may be more easily visible from all directions.