This week, I chose to research why exactly heathcare design
is so important. Steelcase’s article “Problem Solving + Passion Fuel Healthcare Design” gives some insight as to why good healthcare design is so necessary.
Each one of us has some sort of experience involving healthcare, whether it be
a hospital or a clinic, and those experiences shape our opinions of healthcare.
While experiences involving healthcare can be extremely positive, such as
welcoming a new baby into the world, they can also strongly impact us in a
negative way, such as a learning that a family member has cancer or another
degenerative disease. Some of Steelcase’s furniture designers have encountered
situations such as these, and the experiences fueled their empathy for those
who rely on healthcare design and encouraged them to create spaces and
furniture that can support those who spend a lot of time in hospitals and
clinics.
Designing furniture for healthcare is very difficult,
because designers have to consider health code, cleanability, functionality,
clinician requirements, storage, and space optimization. However, Steelcase
designers Beukema and Ramos were, and are, determined to create furnishings
that support family members in the patient room. Family members can go through
a lot of stress while staying in patient rooms, so Beukema and Ramos created a
piece of furniture to encourage cohesiveness between the patient and their
family – namely, Surround.
Of course, by now we’re all fairly familiar with how
insanely innovative Surround is. The reason this piece of furniture is so
successful is because of how both Beukema and Ramos applied their positive and
negative experiences to the design. They took observations relating to how most
family members interact within patient rooms – how family members watch
television and the position that is most comfortable for them to do that, how
people still need to get work done when they are visiting family member, or how
family sometimes decides to spend the night with their loved one. All of these
aspects are taken into consideration within the design of Surround. Using
Surround is very instinctive and allows for family members to feel truly
welcome in the patient room.
Even from this single example, it is obvious how personal
healthcare design truly is. From my own standpoint, I have had many negative
encounters when it comes to healthcare, and I wish more hospitals and clinics
took personal experiences into account. I am very interested in healthcare
design because of my experiences and due to the fact that family members should
always feel supported when visiting loved ones. Healthcare design is also
interesting to me because of how detail-oriented I am as a designer. There are
so many aspects of healthcare design that are important and impactful to individuals
who encounter the space, and I enjoy designing for every part of their visit.
While healthcare design isn’t necessarily in the scope I had
envisioned for myself, I could see myself enjoying designing for healthcare as
a career.
What an interesting article you chose to read! ;) It definitely was a logical choice to read as the article discusses both the issue of health and wellbeing and what it's like to design for these things. It's incredibly focused on details, and each detail is equally as important. This aspect of the design could both be challenging and rewarding.
ReplyDeleteCatie, I could see you enjoying working in healthcare if this is the path you choose to take. I know you've had more than one experience in a healthcare environment, so I've heard you mention before that this route is something that you're interested in doing. You have the advantage of designing from experience; you know what worked and what didn't work during your own experience. Your knowledge can serve others as they interact in these environments. But at the same time, I think that you should work on projects that you're passionate about, whether or not that is healthcare. I can't wait to see what your future looks like!