Healthcare
Encouraging a safety culture for patients inside hospitals
How might we encourage a safety culture, focused on unnecessary falls, medication error and infection control inside the hospital?
The Challenge
To develop tools that could facilitate trust between patients, family members and staff.
Falls, medication error and infection control are the three greatest dangers in a hospital setting, and Fraser Health asked the Health Design Lab to provide a fresh perspective to help uncover and design innovative solutions to change the culture of safety in hospitals. The aim was to create tools that facilitated trust-building between patients, family members and staff, encourage a shift in culture towards patient-centred care and create new rituals and expectations.
The Approach
Alongside a literature and precedence review, our team conducted primary research that included co-creation sessions, ethnographic probes and interviews.
The research included various members of the staff and patients, and methods included ethnographic probes with five current patients and six in-depth interviews with current physicians at Fraser Health.
The Result
The result was a set of opportunities and ideas supported by the insights gathered from patients and staff on how to implement a safety culture inside hospitals
These ideas included a communication campaign that suggested a safety briefing video for onboarding patients to staying safe while in the hospital, a tablet-based app for patients that helped them be informed about medication and upcoming appointments, and designs for interactive smartboards to be implemented across all Fraser Health locations.
