REDESIGNING THE NEONATAL ICU
Dr. William Rhine and I are excited to let you know that ReDesigning the Neonatal ICU has been greenlit for Fall 2014 at Stanford’s d. School! I will be attending the student information event on Feb. 11 from 12-1pm at the d. School to answer prospective student’s questions. We are looking forward to booking an exciting group of speakers for our class, scheduling field trips to NICUs in the bay area, as well as CAPE http://cape.lpch.org/ (Center for Advanced Pediatric & Perinatal Education) at Stanford. We hope to attract a diverse group of graduate students interested in the challenges of designing for the neonatal intensive care unit. Since “NICU Design” is a rather large and ambitious space, we will be identifying 3 key areas of focus such as: data collection and display (for example: design, develop, and test an optimal data display for neonatal resuscitation) physical design elements (for example: elements of design of physical devices, organization of patient beds and storage spaces, or layout of a patient room) and policies/processes (for example: develop, implement, and evaluate a parent education and support program that enhances family integrated care in the NICU).
In this class we will take into account medical “design imperatives” throughout the development process in order to inform our design objectives. Design imperatives are essential criteria, practices, guidelines, laws, and policies that will be considered and applied throughout all phases of the design and construction processes. Simultaneously, we will be studying the users: their environment, their behavior, and their emotions. Our goal is to identify needs that will lead to product, system or service innovation that will improve safety and quality of care. Rather than asking clinicians or families “what they need,” we will be conducting studies to observe, listen and understand the often latent needs of users. By combining design imperatives and developing empathy through direct observation and experience, we will create design objectives. We will use characteristics of “design thinking” to develop our design objectives (Table 1).
Table 1. Characteristics of design thinking that will inform design objectives.
| Design thinking characteristic | Explanation |
| UNDERSTAND (Empathy) | Understanding is the first phase of the design thinking process, in which investigators will be immersed in learning. We will be conducting interview / focus group – qualitative studies in several settings. The goal is to develop background knowledge through these experiences. Developing understanding is a springboard for beginning to address design challenges. |
| OBSERVE (Again and again and again and again…) | We need to become keen people watchers in the observation phase of the design process. We will watch how people behave and interact and observe physical spaces and places in several settings. We will talk to people about what they are doing, ask questions, and reflect on what they see. The understanding and observation phase creates empathy. |
| DEFINE (Develop design objectives based on identified needs) | In this phase of design thinking, our focus is on becoming aware of peoples’ needs and developing insights. The phrase “How might we….” is often used to define a point of view, which is a statement of the: user + need + insight.This statement ends with a suggestion about how to make changes that will have an impact on peoples’ experiences. |
| IDEATE (Brainstorm) | Ideating is a critical component of design thinking. We brainstorm a myriad of ideas and suspend judgment. Ideating is all about creativity and innovation. In the ideation phase, quantity is encouraged. We may generate a hundred ideas in a single session. We become savvy risk takers, wishful thinkers, and dreamers of what might be possible. |
| PROTOTYPE (Make) | Prototyping is a rough and rapid portion of the design process. A prototype can be a sketch, model, or a cardboard box. It is a way to convey an idea quickly. Lesson: it’s better to fail early and often through prototypes. |
| TEST (On real users) | Testing is part of an iterative process that provides designers with feedback. The purpose of testing is to learn what works and what doesn’t, and then iterate. This means going back to the prototype and modifying it based on feedback. Testing ensures that we learn what works and what doesn’t work for users. |
Student groups will have structured access to NICU clinicians at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, as well as parents of preterm infants for conducting ethnography. Opportunities for direct observation in the hospital will be planned as well. Physical prototypes and/or scenarios can be tested and presented at CAPE’s simulation lab in order to give students a realistic environment in which to evaluate and present their ideas.
We will be keeping the class to 20 students max. Please contact me directly if you would like to participate as an expert speaker. julessherman(at)alumni.stanford.edu