Insights & Solutions

By combining observation, interviews, simulation, and rapid prototyping, this team developed design solutions that help healthcare workers stay safe while engaged in challenging tasks. This webinar brings the experience of the healthcare practitioners who cared for Ebola patients during the 2014 outbreak and introduces a human-centered discovery approach developed by design researchers at SimTigrate Design Lab to define the design requirements of spaces where the risk of self- and cross-contamination is the highest.

This webinar will highlight various considerations, evaluation strategies, and previously completed projects, which aim to optimize tasks being performed, information and equipment used, and the design of environments for individuals involved in the medication use process.

Behavioral health settings guided by strict safety design measures often result in spaces that are stark, plain, and isolated - potentially exacerbating environmental stressors and escalating already difficult patient situations. Acute care emergency settings have a particular set of challenges as EDs are predicting increased visits from behavioral health patients. Faced with the challenge of designing a behavioral health care setting in the Emergency Department at UnityPoint Health in Rock Island, IL, the project team hypothesized that the creation of a Crisis Stabilization Unit (CSU) with a “Living Room Concept” would provide a higher quality of care to patients while assisting in the staff’s ability to quickly consult and treat a diverse set of patients entering the ED.