Innovation is thriving in healthcare facilities across the country as vendors work to support better ways to deliver projects and design the healthcare environment. Exploring and implementing new ideas, as well as constantly improving previous achievements, innovative medical fitouts and hospitals are shaping the future of healthcare delivery. The hospital’s innovative architecture and design not only benefit patients, but also encourage administrators, researchers, and healthcare professionals to communicate, be creative, and innovate.
Designers are also responsible for modelling the processes that provide healthcare for both patients and healthcare professionals. The use of design thinking (UX) methodologies and techniques allows healthcare professionals to rethink their views: they begin to see their patients first as people, and then as patients at a secondary level. Design thinking can span the entire spectrum of healthcare services, from the moment a patient arrives at the hospital/clinic, to what happens when they return home, to care about the visit.
Applying design thinking to healthcare can improve innovation, efficiency, and effectiveness by increasing attention to patient and provider needs. In healthcare, design thinking has contributed to the increased patient, healthcare professional and community satisfaction and can increase the efficiency and collaborative nature of intervention design. Overall, design thinking is a promising approach to the development, implementation, and dissemination of interventions that can increase the acceptability and effectiveness of medical interventions by actively involving patients and healthcare professionals in the development process and rapidly iterating prototype innovations for maximum success.
Integrating design thinking into public health pedagogy can increase the use of creativity to develop more innovative ideas and interventions. Design thinking aligns well with competencies outlined by the Council on Education in Public Health (CEPH) and is preferred by local organisations looking into the betterment of medical fitout in Sydney can be used outside of traditional public health approaches and help students apply innovative and creative problem-solving methods to address quality, cost, and access issues. Compared to traditional problem-solving approaches in healthcare and public health, design thinking demonstrates greater empathy for community needs, a clearer understanding of the problem, a more resource-efficient and cost-effective process, and a more user-intent solution. Human-centred design and co-creation go beyond getting patient feedback during the innovation process.
It is now widely recognized that student-centred design and “collaborative creativity” can accelerate and humanize healthcare innovation. Healthcare organizations that emphasize cross-functional collaboration and invest in innovative designs and people-centric design are consistently seen as improving healthcare delivery and operational efficiency. Healthcare organizations are always looking for innovative ways to improve care, engage patients, and streamline workflows for engaged providers.
Modern models of care, improved methods of staff training, and well-designed therapeutic facilities are critical factors in improving mental health care. As a result of these advances, mental and behavioural health professionals have already made great strides in improving the quality and effectiveness of care.
Oakland recently collaborated with doctors, nurses, support staff and patient families at the Garfield Center to develop innovative designs for neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). For about five years now, district clinics have been successfully introducing the functionality of a patient-oriented home, most recently the concept of collective care.
With service design, designers can see the entire journey for everyone (patients, staff, and support staff) from start to finish. Through collaborative creativity, designed evidence, and maintaining a user-centric mindset, designers can map complex systems and better understand how to improve them. From the medical education programs being developed by tomorrow’s doctors to the digital products and services used to transform healthcare, developers have a responsibility to help improve outcomes and close gaps in healthcare for all. Everyone from physicians to pharmacists to medical device and technology managers can feel empowered to make the right choices for patient care and wellbeing.