2016 is well underway at the lab with a range of hospital consulting projects up and running. The academic year is now also in full swing with a new cohort of Postgraduate designers from a range of disciplines working on projects at the lab.
Keep an eye out for our new student section that will be added as a separate page in the tool bar. Here we will exhibit the postgraduate work from spatial, product, fashion and graphic designers here at the lab.
For her 2015 honours project Charlotte Dickson designed a set of interactive picture books that tell the story of a little girl named Lin and her experiences of visiting the Outpatients’ Department at Starship Children’s Hospital after breaking her arm. Hospitals can be scary places, especially for children whose imaginations often run away with them.
Lin’s story aims to relieve children’s fears and engage them in their treatment experiences by giving them honest information in a fun and friendly format. The five stages of Lin’s treatment are explained in five short modules that children can collect as they progress through their own treatment journey.
Children can also stamp the last page of each module as they complete the relevant stage of treatment. The illustrations include elements for children to colour in, helping to combat the boredom of the hospital waiting room, while allowing them to make the book their own.
Once children complete their treatment the book becomes a treasured keepsake of a childhood milestone.
Patient Experience Week is an opportunity for the Hospital to draw attention to the voice of our patients. This year the theme was 'communication,' and a number of designs have been created by the lab to draw attention to this event:
Our stories
An exhibit of photo-story boards will be displayed in public areas of Auckland City Hospital and Greenlane Clinical Centre. These displays will show peoples’ unique stories, with a particular focus on how communication impacted their experience of care.
Animation
A short video about patient experience and some of the improvement work underway. Look out for these on the ‘Video Wall’, Level 5 at Auckland City Hospital.
Sharing stations
Share your experience or give us suggestions using one of the 'share-it stations’, located in Level 5 of Auckland City Hospital and in Building 4 of Greenlane Clinical Centre.
The Lab has been working with an internal hospital project team to improve ward signage. Our goal is to make simple, bold signage elements that form a coherent wayfinding system.
In adjacent wards, there are no cues to show you have moved into a new ward. Two distinct shades of blue are used in the wayfinding system to help indicate this zoning. A third, darker shade of navy blue is used for directional signage and amenities.
The system is currently on trial in ward 62. An older prototype is also visible on level 8 of Auckland City Hospital. See images of ward 62 here:
Within the Auckland DHB new initiatives and projects are constantly being developed to provide better healthcare experiences for people. At the DHW lab, storytelling is an integral part of what we do and we are able to create engaging, playful animations to celebrate both our own projects and those of others. This project was run by Maungakiekie Health Working Group who approached the DHW lab to tell their story.
This clip tells the story of the 'Hidden Hospital' at Auckland DHB. The DHW lab worked with a Performance Improvement Specialist to describe how a project team has been tackling the hidden wait times in the hospital experience.
Over the coming weeks, we will be running a few short profiles on recent research projects run at the DHW lab. Antonio Wan has worked on a baby bath design with the Neonatal ICU staff:
Currently the design is a working prototype Antonio is looking to develop through further Postgraduate Research at the lab.
