Its been on the books for sometime, but working on site at Auckland Hospital has seemed to be a crucial aspect of the collaboration between AUT and the ADHB.
A corner of this unused space on Level Five is where the DHW lab will be based, allowing designers to really be 'immersed' within the various contexts which they are designing for....
Check back soon to see how this space develops into a thriving studio environment. Its a challenging project in itself!
We are excited to be starting our first DHW Lab project for 2014, focusing on designing new ways to communicate the Emergency Department to help improve the experience for those arriving in ED at the ADHB’s Auckland City Hospital in Grafton.The waiting room of the ED can be a place of high anxiety, frustration, and sometimes aggression. Commonly visitors arriving to the service are uncertain about where to go, who to see, how long do they need to wait, and well as not understanding why some patients may be prioritized over others.
This first DHW Lab project asks how visual communication can be used to help patients to understand their pathway through the ED, in order to explore how design can be used to deliver new healthcare experiences
Currently, two Lab staff are working closely with staff from the ED, as well as the service improvement team to better understand the challenges associated with this busy and complex area of the hospital. It is hoped that new opportunities for design led solutions will be identified through this collaborative approach.
The team is currently undertaking secondary research and gathering primary data . See the current project map below and follow us as we design and learn…
A ground-breaking relationship between the Starship Foundation, Mercury Energy and AUT University has recently been announced. The relationship will focus on the development of a new IV pole device called ‘Sprout’, which will redefine the way children in Starship Children’s Hospital interact with this crucial piece of equipment.
The design, by AUT University postgraduate student Neerali Parbhu, has better ergonomic benefits, such as being easier to manoeuvre and less cumbersome for the child, but as importantly, it also helps create a more positive experience for kids, by using brighter colours and adding extra platform space for children to put their toys on.
Neerali, a 21-year-old product design student in the School of Art and Design, has firsthand experience of the difficulties children face in hospital.
She herself spent time in Starship Children’s Hospital undergoing treatment for cancer as a child.
“I’m so appreciative and excited to be working across two fields that not only interest me, but ones I have a real knowledge of. Product design is about empathising with the user, and this project is designed to help make life easier for patients and their families. I am ideally placed to help them with that.”
The project has been made possible by Starship Children’s Hospital, AUT University, the Starship Foundation and its Five Star sponsor, Mercury Energy.
The funding for the project is from Mercury Energy’s Star Supporters Club, where customers donate regularly to Starship through their monthly Mercury bill.
Dr Richard Aickin Director of Child Health at Starship Children’s Hospital says the Sprout IV pole improves the experience for children while in hospital.
“We aim to make the Starship Hospital as child friendly and family centred as possible. Well-designed equipment like the Sprout IV pole can be less scary looking for children while still meeting our clinical needs. We know that the hospital environment plays a big part in the experience of children who need to come here. We expect that the Sprout IV pole will reduce stress and add a more playful feel to children’s immediate surroundings in hospital. This is an exciting partnership and it is a pleasure to be part of this unique opportunity.”
Senior lecturer in product design at AUT, Dr Stephen Reay, is excited about the collaboration between the parties, and about what it means for the patients at Starship.
“The project is about improving the experience of children and their families,” he says. “Not only to provide improved practical solutions, but also to create engaging objects that children (and their families) of all ages will be able to positively engage with, and become a key element of their hospital stay.”
For the first time, AUT University partnered with the Auckland District Health Board (Auckland DHB) to hold a Design/Health Symposium, to explore the huge benefits that come from health and design collaborations.
The symposium was held over two days and was attended by 50 invited guests who got the chance to participate in a design thinking workshop targeting a hospital related challenge at Auckland City Hospital and a presentation day, hearing from keynote speakers discussing the role of design in health and wellbeing in New Zealand and beyond.
The workshop saw attendees working together to understand how some of the shared spaces at the hospital could be better utilised. Using co-design principles they spoke to staff, patients, families and visitors who were using the spaces to understand their experiences.
Dr Stephen Reay, acting Head of Department- Industrial Design and Innovation at AUT, says the symposium had plenty of highlights, but it was the genuine enthusiasm from participants from the Auckland DHB, AUT and the international contributors that really pleased him.
“Everyone was very excited about the collaboration of the two parties where health and wellbeing opportunities could be improved through design,” he says.
“There is an incredible opportunity in front of us to establish a sustainable and meaningful relationship between design and health that will truly impact the wellbeing of the community and the outcome of this symposium really delivered on that idea.”
The symposium came about after the realisation that the collaboration between a hospital and design school is quite a unique concept, especially in New Zealand, and AUT and the Auckland DHB were happy to fill that gap.
Dr Andrew Old, Chief of Strategy, Participation & Innovation from Auckland DHB, says the symposium was a great opportunity to highlight the benefits of the collaboration and get people excited about the possibilities.
“AUT and Auckland DHB have been working together for about 18 months and it quickly became obvious that the scope for mutual benefit was enormous,” he says.
“From a health perspective the different lens that design thinking brings to issues really opens the door to new and innovative ideas and I’m really excited about what we can achieve.”
The keynote speakers at the symposium were Daniel Wolstenholme from the NHS who shared his experiences establishing a user-centred healthcare design lab in Sheffield, Dr Richard Worrall, Psychogeriatrician at Auckland DHB, who spoke about his experience of using co-design principles to improve dementia services, Professor Kath McPherson from AUT on the importance of including consumers in health design and Dr Jen Loy from Griffith University in Queensland on 3D printing and hospitals.
For more photos from the symposium, check out the gallery link at the top of the page. If you are interested in watching some talks from the symposium see the video link.
Also, this article was published on the HIIRC website:
http://www.hiirc.org.nz/page/44299/