Placing Users at the Center: Evaluating Exam Room Design for Improved User Experience

Blueprints for Better Care: Unveiling the Role of Clinic Design in Enhancing Patient Experience and Efficiency

Background: The rising demand for outpatient care, fueled by improved efficiency, technology, and patient-centered models, necessitates reevaluating clinic design and healthcare delivery. This reassessment should align with evolving patient expectations to enhance care continuity and outcomes. Objective: This research explores how targeted design features affect patient behaviors, movement dynamics, and staff perceptions in outpatient clinics. The goal is to enhance patient experience, improve operational efficiency, and elevate care quality by identifying strategies to boost clinic performance and patient outcomes. Methods: This study utilizes behavior mapping, shadowing observations, surveys, and Gemba walk-throughs across four outpatient clinics to examine how design affects patient experiences and operational workflows. Behavior mapping collected 1179 data points, revealing that waiting for appointments and making phone calls were the most common activities. Shadowing 13 patients identified navigation inefficiencies, particularly the lengthy route from exam rooms to exits and the frequent movement between the scale and waiting area. Surveys and Gemba walk-throughs with 95 staff members highlighted critical design elements that enhance experiences, including aesthetics, acoustics, and room sizes. Feedback indicated a demand for improvements in accessibility, privacy, wayfinding, reduced staff travel distances, and child-friendly features to boost clinic efficiency and patient satisfaction. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of patient-centered design in outpatient clinics. It shows that improving waiting areas, clinic navigation, privacy measures, and technology integration can enhance patient experience and operational efficiency.

Keeping Healthcare Workers Safe During a Pandemic: Evaluating Doffing Area Design for Safer Removal of Personal Protective Equipment

ObjectiveThis study proposes a user-centered methodology to quantify the design affordances of doffing spaces, focusing on the safety and efficiency of healthcare workers (HCWs).BackgroundDoffing personal protective equipment (PPE) poses a significant challenge for healthcare workers (HCWs) due to the high risk of self-contamination. The physical design of the doffing area plays an important role in ensuring safety during this process. However, there currently are no established spatial metrics for assessing the design of doffing spaces.MethodsFour doffing areas in two Biocontainment Units (BCUs) were evaluated using Functional Scenario (FS) analysis method. FSs, representing the spatial needs of key users (HCW and Trained Observer-TO) were developed based on observations, literature, and discussions with staff. For each FS, we defined quantifiable metrics for visualizing the user's needs and evaluating doffing area design performance.ResultsWe defined 11 FSs (seven for HCWs and four for TOs) and 19 associated spatial metrics. FSs for the HCW focused on the prevention of self- and cross-contamination, as well as facilitating visibility, efficiency, and situational and process awareness. The FSs for the TO center on preventing self-contamination, promoting visibility and process awareness, and safe waste management.ConclusionsThe FS approach allowed for the quantification of doffing area affordances and evaluation of how they impact HCW performance, emphasizing design aspects that enhance safety and efficiency. The presented metrics and study findings are expected to inform the future design of spaces where doffing occurs and provide new guidance for improved doffing safety.

Improving the Mental Health of Surgical Teams Through Operating Room Design

OBJECTIVE

In this study, we aim to develop and propose an evaluation method for analyzing the design of operating rooms (ORs) from the perspective of surgical teams' reported experiences and stress levels.

BACKGROUND

Stress and burnout of surgical team members can lead to diminished performance and medical errors, which endangers the safety of both the patients and team members. The design and layout of the OR play a critical role in managing such stress.

METHODS

To understand surgical teams' spatial needs related to their experiences and stress, we administered a survey and in-depth focus group discussions to three surgical teams from the same organization. The identified spatial needs were translated into functional scenarios and spatial metrics, essentially viewing the OR through the perspective of users.

RESULTS

Our analysis revealed four integral sections-patient flow, room organization, access to facilities/medical equipment/support staff/team members, and staff well-being-identified as critical design factors associated with the experiences and stress levels of the surgical teams in the ORs.

CONCLUSIONS

We expect this method to serve as a tool for evaluating the effect of the design of OR layouts on stress, thereby supporting the well-being and resiliency of surgical teams.