Tammy Thompson, is a registered architect and medical planner with thirteen years of diverse experience in architecture and construction. She is also the founder of Patient Centered Design. This week, we have the privilege of Tammy facilitating a design charrette for our students virtually from her office in Charleston, SC. Tammy has been involved in teaching a NICU design class at Georgia Tech, and now brings her deep experience in healthcare design to our group at Stanford.
Tammy has given the students three challenges that are high priority problems in the NICU:
- AIA Compliant, drop in, NICU Scrub Sink Design: A scrub sink that meets Recommended Standards for NICU, complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and can serve as a bath training station
- Waste Receptacle for the NICU patient room: A quiet waste receptacle that is ergonomically sound, and creates an alternative to emptying the waste and linen receptacles inside the NICU room
- Kangaroo Care Cradle: An accessory for the parent’s chair that supports the adult and infant for multiple positions during kangaroo care and breastfeeding
We had the chance to begin the brainstorming process and come up with some initial concepts in the last 20 minutes of class. Each group rolled their white board over to the computer camera so Tammy could comment and see the first seeds of ideas. This process was fast and had a great energy about it.
The 6 student groups will work on their chosen project as homework and return to class Thursday with 45 minutes left to refine their ideas and get feedback from Dr. Rhine, myself, and our four highly creative design coaches/mentors (Dave Jaffe, Dr. David Stark, Travis McCain, and Doug Schwandt). Groups will have established roles for each of the members such as:
- Patient engagement representative
- Product design lead
- Risk management manager (includes infection control)
- Clinical partner
- Product marketing executive
Each team member will identify his/her role on Thursday and contribute to the verbal presentation. The presentations will be designed for an audience of patient advocates, such as a patient advisory council at a hospital. Drawings, models, and research will be presented to the judges (Tammy, design coaches and Natasha, a NICU parent from St. Louis we talked with today). Students can take this assignment as far they like. We hope they bring in a few iterations and new insights they have discovered through making drawings and models. The winning team will receive a free pass to the Healthcare Design Conference in San Diego next month along with air fare and hotel. At the conference, Patient Centered Design will acknowledge our class and the winning team during their reception at the conference. In addition, the team will be able to present their solutions on Nov. 16 at the NICU design presentation. Tammy will be arranging for us to to have a dedicated session in a new NICU model design at the conference with a team of nurses, researchers and NICU parents for collecting information to take back to the rest of the class. We will be able to take photos, video clips, etc to share upon our return to class.
Since this teaching format is new to us (a prototype essentially), we will be asking students anonymously for their feedback at the end of class on Thursday through a brief survey. At a high level, this format of teaching (using GoTo Meeting to connect virtually with educators in class) is a prototype for a way of working, not just learning. Often, this is the way in which designers present ideas to clients who reside in other parts of the country or world. This way of learning can give students a realistic look at the challenges of designing and presenting to clients remotely. I’m looking forward to seeing the results on Thursday!