Design for Patient Dignity - Brief 3/7
Design a product or service that effectively separates male and female patients on NHS wards, considering patient needs while also giving staff the flexibility to change areas at short notice.
The team came up with two solutions — a new system of dividers to screen off areas of the hospital and a simple hook to secure existing curtains.
Designers: Together Creative Collaboration / Anthony Dickens Studio
Industry supplier: Suck UK
How they work
Lightweight Screen
The Lightweight Screen is a freestanding divider for separating areas of a ward or bay, creating a single room effect or dividing the ward in two down the middle. Its made up of rotation-moulded plastic panels that are simple to interlock securely but are light enough to be installed or moved easily by nursing staff.
Theyre also easy to clean, which helps with infection control, and can be stacked together for storage. Because the screen panels are not attached to the ward wall s and sit below the existing curtain rail, they can be install ed in hospitals without having to close the ward or move patients from their beds. This elegant solution gives patients increased privacy without cluttering the ward environment.
Curtain Lock
The Curtain Lock is a one-piece moulded plastic hook that clips on to the curtain rail to prevent the curtain being drawn back past a certain point. It also acts as a signal to show staff and other patients that a curtained area is in use. Patients can decide how far they want their curtains drawn back, giving them more control over their environment, while staff can use the lock to screen off larger areas of wards by clipping a long run of curtains together.
The issue in context
Its possible to screen off patients in open wards by building stud partition walls. But because dust is an infection risk, any installation that involves building work or drilling into walls means a ward would have to be closed and its patients moved elsewhere, which is disruptive and expensive.
Temporary partitioning solutions that have to be installed by specialist fitters or engineers are also possible, but less practical for nursing staff who need to be able to change ward layouts quickly and easily.
The designers insights
The design team visited a number of hospitals and talked to the staff about the issues of separating patients because, as Damon De Ionno, Managing Director of Together Creative Collaboration says, You cant possibly hope to solve the problem unless you understand it. For a short time they were able to base themselves in one hospital room which was
not currently in use. This meant they could sketch ideas and then immediately try them out by moving the beds and curtains around, but without disturbing patients.
We tested materials and made a lot of paper models, says De Ionno. The team considered making a divider with an aluminium frame, almost like a greenhouse, but eventually rejected the idea because the points where materials met would be hard to clean.
The Curtain Lock idea came about because the team saw so many curtains in use in hospitals. Curtains are very useful and they actually work pretty well — we just thought they could be improved, De Ionno says. Perhaps if the curtain could be kept in place there might be a little bit more privacy. The psychological downside of curtains is that you never quite know if someones going to pull them open and burst in on you. We thought that if the patient could be reassured that that isnt going to happen, theyre going to feel a lot more secure.
http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/dignity
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Room Dividers and Loft Interiors by Montana Ave Interiorsby LoftLivingLA6,419 views
Sounds interesting.
TheLecheMilk 2 weeks ago