Recently, some construction work has taken place in the Level 5 retail space creating a bottle neck around the staff cafeteria. The Lab has installed a way finding mural in order to help the flow of people into the over bridge and reception area. It was exciting to hear people's feedback as we installed the piece. The colour and playful aesthetic has created quite a talking point for both young and old!
The hospital is constantly collecting out data and measures all day, everyday. This data may appear in reports or graphs of performance, but is largely unseen by the the hospital and its users. As a part of the summer studentship running a the DHW lab, students have been asked to consider how data might be made more accessible through creative installations and artworks. Check out the brief they have been given below:
You have been looking for a partner in commissioning an abstract data driven visualisation of what’s going on in real time in our hospital in our public spaces. The data is real time information as being fed from our hospital information showing things like admissions, discharges, transfers, diagnostic orders (labs, radiology), dispensed medicines, surgeries, outpatient visits and other sorts of transactional data. We would be looking to apply patient lenses to this information such adults, children, women, ethnicities, localities, conditions (cancer, diabetes, mental health) etc.
You would see these visualisations continually running 24/7, and include disruptions into the visualisations for exceptional events such as births, deaths etc.
We recently ran a workshop with the students to introduce the brief and explore:
What type of data could be used?
What mediums could be used to present this data? Sound? light? objects?
Where might these installations be placed int he public spaces?
Stay tuned for updates on this project...
Earlier in the year, Honours student Lauren Hyland recently undertook a role-play exercise to help her gain empathy for elderly patients in public healthcare. Much more than a simple exercise in acting, Lauren fully transformed her visual appearance and identity, with the help of make-up artists at BodyFX, into that of an ill-looking, frail elderly woman. Following her radical transformation, Lauren immersed herself in the context of public healthcare at Auckland City’s Public Hospital at Grafton, providing her an interactive environment to act out the experience of her users. Lauren reflects on the exercise and her experience below:
‘My key insights were gained through the use of ‘Role-Play’ as an explorative, empathy gaining method. With the help of BodyFX – the make-up & prosthetics specialists – I was able to fully embody what it is like to be an elderly patient by experiencing a day walking in their shoes. I allowed myself to be immersed into the moment – feeling vulnerable, overwhelmed and at times invisible or ignored.'
In response to this outstanding research effort, Take a look at Lauren's magnetic, easily removable privacy screen that retrofits onto existing hospital beds. The design is a concept at this stage, but has scope to be developed in different materials, transparencies and sizes.
Well done Lauren for all the hard work you have put in this year at the DHW lab!
Check out her research video here:
This banner is an overview of the public spaces research project that occurred earlier in the year to listen to the voice of patients, families and hospital staff:
Off the back of the Journey map, there is an opportunity to further explore way finding within the department. In each room for example, more detail around where the patient is and what they can expect could be displayed on the walls, linking back to the overarching journey map.
With the capacity of the Lab looking to grow in 2015, it is vital that a functional working environment is available for new Lab contributors and ADHB staff members to work in. These images show the proposed concept for a private working area and meeting space, to be developed in the theme of the semi permanent fit out.
Full scale prototyping of physical spaces is an area of demand within the hospital.
‘In house’ exercises such as these act as a suitable trial for future full-scale space mock ups. For example, private booths for both the public spaces and other office areas of the hospital are to be prototyped in the Lab space.
