Author: Barbara Horwitz-Bennett
Published January 12, 2024
“Proven to enhance healing and patient comfort, human-centered design strategies are taking center stage in today’s healthcare projects.
“Ensuring that design solutions are empathetic and support patient and staff member needs, provide autonomy and promote patient comfort are key to creating an environment where patients feel empowered to openly communicate with the clinical team,” explained Karen Freeman, healthcare practice leader for HOK in Atlanta.
Defining the concept of empathy, Terri Zborowsky, a senior design researcher in HGA’s St. Paul, Minnesota, office explained that it’s the art of stepping into another’s shoes to understand their feelings and perspectives. To help enable this important prerequisite to the design process, her team uses tools like virtual reality to better perceive what patients will experience.
Feeling Welcome
As the first point of contact for patients and their families, the building entry must be warm and inviting.
“When designing the entrance of a healthcare facility, it’s important to focus on the initial 60 seconds of the user experience,” stated Hao Duong, principal of Ankrom Moisan in Seattle.
Consequently, it’s essential to eliminate any physical barriers, provide ramps and openings for mobility-challenged patients and offer clear navigation and wayfinding. To make the facility feel less imposing and more approachable, he recommends breaking up the building’s mass by creating moments that humanize the scale by incorporating strategies like garden spaces or a dropped ceiling.”
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“Safety and Security
Feelings of safety and security also go hand in hand with nurturing patient dignity. At the same time, privacy is important as well, challenging designers to walk that fine line. The trick is establishing clear pathways of visibility for observation and engagement that don’t feel intrusive.
For example, decentralized nursing stations can offer views of patients without going into their room. In addition, nurses or other staff can have clear site lines to corridors, patient room doors and unit entrances.
Another recommendation is locating consult rooms at the front of the clinics so that information can be shared with patients in a private setting.
The key to striking this ideal safety and privacy design balance is through consultation and collaboration with staff and clinicians. In addition, safety should be planned from the start in the pre-design stage to best integrate these strategies into the final design.
In addition to patients, the safety and security of staff must be accommodated as well. This includes technology such as panic buttons and weapon-detection systems, secondary exits for staff and the ability to lock down areas, if necessary.
The Bottom Line
Overall, it can be helpful for healthcare designers to focus on the fact that patients and their families may be nervously awaiting a diagnosis, experiencing uncertainty or dealing with a crisis. With this mindset, this can help guide optimized designs with dignity.
Ultimately, Koehler concluded, “These individuals are often vulnerable, and it is vital to empathize with their experiences and offer support and encouragement as they navigate their journey toward improved well-being” (Horwitz-Bennett, 2024).
One of the first steps these designers use to access the needs of their clients is creating user/experience mapping. This method puts the designer in the shoes of the user and allows us to see the points of contact from a new perspective. Applying this to my capstone will allow new avenues to be explored.
Some of the most important factors explored in this article to ensure comfort in the healthcare specter are prioritizing the feelings of a welcoming experience, intentional components added with thought, accessibility, power of choice, safety and security. Applying these factors to a design within my capstone will help promote a level of comfort experienced by the patient. Adding features of rounded edges in the product or light upbeat packaging will invite the patients to be confident in using the product. Being empathetic when designing and ensuring it is accessible for people to use is big factor in making a successful product. The individuals using this product have a certain level of vulnerability being exposed and making them as comfortable and confident as possible when using it, can be empowering.
Reference
Horwitz-Bennett, B. (2024, January 12). Design with dignity: Human-centered healthcare design. Buildings. https://www.buildings.com/architecture/article/33017328/design-with-dignity-human-centered-healthcare-design
