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www.curve.com.au | issue thirty-four | 2011
Design for health putting people first
Luke Williams on disruptive thinking
Restoring an icon the Volley returns
ISSN 1446-4829
feature
People first In the complex world of design for health, Philips Healthcare is well recognised for their groundbreaking, people-focused healthcare solutions. Curve editor, Belinda Stening, spoke to two experts at Philips Healthcare – Sean Hughes, Chief Design Officer, and Eric Silfen MD, Chief Medical Officer – to find out how design and a people-centric approach is key to addressing some of the world’s health problems, now and into the future.
issue thirty-four 29 Curve
Sean Hughes
Healthcare systems around the world are struggling
Dr Silfen has a background in both the medical field
to cope with the demands of our ageing population.
and technological research – a very valuable com-
In developed countries, unhealthy and sedentary
bination – and he is an exponent in bridging the appli-
lifestyles are increasing the occurrence of insidious
cation of technology and innovation with the medical
illnesses like obesity, heart disease and diabetes, while
world, in such a way that it is humane and meaning-
healthcare systems in developing nations are failing to
ful, to help to establish a ‘medical consciousness’ for
reach people living in poverty or even those affected
Philips. Silfen says, “The landscape is changing in a
by natural disasters. With such an overwhelming de-
multi-directional way. This is not just due to increasing
mand for adequate healthcare, how can design play
numbers of elderly patients. I refer to it as the longer
a more strategic role in ensuring we live healthier lives
lifespan of people. It’s not just a question of taking
and receive the healthcare we need?
care of people who are older. It’s about understanding
“The healthcare industry is in crisis and is facing paradigm change,” says Hughes, who is based in Andover, near
what it means to take care of all people, starting at whatever age, as we live longer.”
Boston. “However, there are plenty of opportunities for
Significant transformations are occurring in the health-
innovation within this crisis.
care system as a result, making it essential to find the
“Over the last two decades, Philips Design has developed a people-focused innovation approach that has generated tangible proof-points of the Philips Healthcare differentiator of ‘People-focused,
resources to support new technical innovations that are improving the standard of personal health and well-being, as well as competencies of the healthcare workforce.
Healthcare simplified’ across the home and hospital
“Medical care should be delivered to people in the
healthcare domain,” he says.
way they want it,” rather than in the way the medical
Hughes explains that the role of the designer at Philips Healthcare is changing from creator to the role of facilitator. “Our designers are looking at experience design, mapping the experience of people in multidimensions. This requires a holistic design approach that’s research-based and involves multidisciplinary
industry thinks they should have it, explains Silfen – who has a very strong relationship with design at Philips. “The way people want medical care depends upon their personal feelings and beliefs, and that can only be addressed if you have a strong design organisation working with you.
design teams, including designers, psychologists,
“Technology may be one thing,” he continues,
researchers and cultural anthropologists to better
“but knowing who the doctor is, how medical care
understand both the functional and emotional needs
is delivered and presented, all of that is about design.
of, in the case of healthcare, patients, families and
We can’t be effective as a company without this very
clinical staff.
strong bond between medical thinking, innovative
“Our unique approach is driven by qualitative research, applies design thinking to identify innovation above touch screen user interface and nurses’ station within the Ambient Experience hospital environment
opportunities, and leverages design skills to propose
previous page patient and carer in a Philips Ambient Experience catheterisation lab, and concept sketch showing Ambient Experience hospital entry area
advancement and design’s ability to make sure it is people focused. It’s about what people want, not what we tell them they need.”
solutions with measurable end-user value. It has proven
When Philips designs, they look at – what they call –
relevance in business processes, ranging from strategy
the entire cycle of care, or care cycle, which consists
to product development, and has successfully sup-
of five phases – prevention, screening, diagnosis,
ported both short and longer-term innovation for us.”
treatment and surveillance – and the people that are
From a company perspective, it’s not only Philips that
involved.
benefits from its design expertise. “We also work with
Hughes explains, “What we see happening in this
external healthcare organisations and companies.
cycle of care is that the impact of digitisation is grow-
By engaging with them, using our design capabilities,
ing. Patient records, payment systems, image data-
we create a win-win situation for both Philips and the
bases – all this will continue to be integrated, move
external party. They benefit from the knowledge we
online and move with the patient. Clinicians will look
have built up from decades of designing, we benefit
for information to make a diagnosis and expect to
from the valuable insights we gain by working closely
have it at their fingertips via clinical decision support
with the people in their healthcare environments,”
software tools, delivered on increasingly smart mobile
says Hughes.
platforms. In order for them to collect and interpret this information in an efficient and easy way, we – as designers – add value by creating intuitive user interfaces that help them to manage their workflow effectively and streamline complex data flows smoothly.”
30 Curve issue thirty-four
Experience design in healthcare
in the hospital waiting room. The Kitten Scanner is a
Being in a hospital can be a particularly stressful and
scaled version of the CT scan and includes a televi-
daunting experience for children and adults. Hughes explains how in 2004 a people-focused solution to a design challenge was the beginning of bigger projects
animation on the television screen that tells the story of that particular character and mimics the results of
“As designers we believed that the experience for a
a mood theme or ambient environment by waving
patient in a medical imaging department in a hospital
a radio frequency card over a cord that triggered
could be much better,” says Hughes. “So in 2004,
special lighting and animated visuals onto walls
we proposed to the Advocate Lutheran General
and ceilings.
this through design and a creative approach.” They immersed themselves in this problem, mapping the
above concept sketch series for Ambient Experience, and Ambient Experience in imaging suites
places one of the toys in the scanner it activates an
in experience design for Philips Healthcare.
Children’s Hospital in Chicago that we could improve
Eric Silfen
sion screen and toys with an RFID tag. When a child
experience of the delivery of Computed Tomography
a scan. In the examination room the child can choose
This was the first Ambient Experience, as Philips has since named it. From there they designed Ambient Experience environments for other imaging suites such
imaging (CT) in the radiology department.
as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) suites and
“We wanted to make it less intimidating for patients
just focus on the patient experience, but also on the
to be scanned in a radiology ward,” continues Hughes.
staff experience. Clinical staff are always present in
For this first installation they created a total experience
the lab because it concerns interventional procedures,
for the patient by extending the product experience
therefore we wanted to make it easier for them to
to a more soothing environmental experience. “It
achieve their tasks,” he adds.
catheterisation laboratories. “In cath labs we didn’t
made children feel at ease. Before the examination started a child could play with the Kitten Scanner
issue thirty-four 31 Curve
this page Ambient Experience images and concept sketches for the Florida Hospital for Children, showing entrance, nurses’ station, a treatment room and the waiting area
A similar, and more recent, installation to the Ambient Experience at the Florida Hospital for Children has broken new ground as it covers the whole of the hospital’s dedicated children’s emergency department, extending far beyond a single examination or procedure area. “With the Florida Hospital for Children, the main challenge was to apply this experience in a space where there was no Philips imaging equipment involved,” says Hughes. “So we designed the entire experience flow, and not just the environment within an examination room. We had to take many aspects into consideration, like the state of mind patients and their families are in when they enter the department, who they meet, where and for how long they have to wait and how to balance relaxation with positive distraction. So we had to put together a coherent set of solutions for each situation.” Here, the Ambient Experience extends from the emergency department entrance to the waiting areas, the triage area, nurses’ station and the emergency treatment rooms. The focus of the experience is to create an overall sense of calm in the more public areas. The corridor that leads to the emergency department features a ‘glow wall’ of frosted glass panels backed with LEDs that slowly change colour. A wall outside the triage area is covered by a LED display with a translucent honeycomb structure in front of it. This produces abstract images in many colours and shapes, and has a calming effect like a flickering fire. The main waiting area features an interactive illuminated wall where children can ‘paint with light’ by touching it. The child is admitted to an emergency room that is equipped with a proscribe tablet to allow the selection of an animated theme for projection onto a wall, and children can listen to audio provided or can plug in their own music. Philips is now rolling out Ambient Experience programs in over 200 hospitals worldwide.
32 Curve issue thirty-four
the Lifeline AutoAlert detects a fall and alerts for emergency assistance so help can arrive promptly left Philips Lifeline with AutoAlert function featuring pendant-style help button
Home-based healthcare
“In the future,” he continues, “I think we will make
The delivery of healthcare at home is helping to
the move into the realm where healthcare is as much
relieve pressure on hospital systems worldwide. For the elderly, in particular, home-based care systems promote independence and increased self-esteem. Hughes says, “Delivering healthcare outside the clinical environment represents a big challenge. In mature healthcare markets, such as North America, healthcare systems can’t cope, and healthcare authorities have been looking for ways to efficiently treat more people.
about prevention as it is about intervention, and providing people with the healthy choices in all aspects of their lives will become increasingly important.” Lifeline AutoAlert received an iF product design award for 2011. Philips’ innovative Design Probes program is a dedicated ‘far-future’ research initiative to track trends and developments that may ultimately evolve into mainstream issues that have a significant impact on
One way is to treat people outside of the hospital.”
business. Exploring the future, and how people will
Philips Lifeline with AutoAlert function is an enhanced
to their aim of achieving people-focused design
medical alert device and service. Designed as a non-
solutions. By imagining extreme versions of far-future
stigmatising, reliable solution for elderly people based
scenarios, the Design Probes team attempts to under-
at home, Philips says it offers foolproof fall detection,
stand more about the issues that affect people today
and offers home-based and elderly people a solution
and tomorrow.
to maintaining independence.
interact with each other and themselves, is integral
A recent Probe project called Self Health is a concept
Falls are a leading cause of injury in the elderly
that takes a provocative look at health issues and
community and often admission to hospital is required.
could have a profound effect on the way we under-
The Lifeline features a pendant-style help button that
stand and monitor our own health and make lifestyle
can automatically call for help if a fall is detected.
choices twenty years from now. Self Health investi-
The pendant is designed to be low maintenance –
gates a shift in emphasis from curative to preventative
water-tight and easy to clean. According to a Philips
medicine – the differences in cultural perception of
laboratory study of simulated falls, Lifeline with AutoAlert
health and the possibilities of self-diagnosis.
detected ninety-five per cent of falls, with a very low rate of false alarms.
The Probe research uncovered how people may be
Philips sees home-based care as the way of the
physical isolation from each other (in some cultures)
future for everyone, regardless of age. “Healthcare
and poor lifestyle choices. People need to take more
delivery will continue to expand away from the clinical
responsibility and interest in their health and well-being
environment as individuals will be forced to take more
to prevent illness. This prompted further exploration
responsibility for their own care,” says Hughes.
into issues such as the rise in eating disorders, addiction
suffering from ‘touch hunger’, resulting from our growing
to plastic surgery in some societies and the therapeutic effect of physical contact.
issue thirty-four 33 Curve
Philanthropy by design
The Chulha project extends beyond the design of
The Philips Philanthropy by Design program provides
a healthier, safer and more efficient way of cooking.
meaningful and socially responsible solutions to problems faced by communities with limited healthcare resources. “Our continuing challenge,” says Hughes, “is to ensure we fully understand people in the broadest healthcare context. You can imagine designing a solution for an intensive-care unit in a leading university hospital in the US has a completely different need
acceptance in rural communities. Local NGOs are able to use the intellectual property and design and mould stoves for free. A complete support package has been created that includes not just the details of the stove’s physical design, but also marketing information for local entrepreneurs, communication materials for
The World Health Organization estimates close to
of the Chulha has been introduced in Kenya.
fumes from indoor cooking using biomass fuels, such as wood, dung and peat. The Chulha smokeless stove designed for rural India by Philips is developed to solve this problem and save lives. It has won many design
NGOs and installation instructions. A customised version
A more recent philanthropic project, the Breath Counter, is a ‘breath timing’ device to assist care-givers in rural and remote areas to diagnose pneumonia in young children. The device is solar powered and can be used
awards, including a recent INDEX award.
by anyone – regardless of literacy skills.
Over the course of a five-month period, a three-person
“We are driven by clinical excellence,” says Silfen.
design team from Philips Design in Pune in India turned the initial design idea into two field-tested prototypes. This was a collaborative effort involving local NGOs, entrepreneurs and a few families in cooperation with
above the Chulha smokeless stove installed, and exploded view
an unconventional model to give it widespread
than developing a solution appropriate for rural India.”
1.6 million deaths a year occur from inhalation of toxic
the Breath Counter breath timing device in use in rural India
The philanthropic business model for the Chulha uses
“We are people focused and based upon the needs of patients, care-givers, clinicians and others involved in the world of medical practice – everything we do is driven by a medical understanding. And only then
the Appropriate Rural Technology Institute, an NGO
do we bring forward our technology and innovation.”
that develops and promotes innovative technologies
People are the central focus of design for Philips.
to improve the quality of life in rural India.
Whether a conservative and controlled clinical environment or a remote rural village – design needs to be totally informed with rigorous research – putting people first. This is a core value that we can all bring to design.
34 Curve issue thirty-four