Ch 7. From Hospital to Hospitality: Information design for unit & care workflow

Once in the institutional setting, design decisions are magnified by their daily use and criticality. We follow the professional’s journey where it meets the patient, in the floor, hospital unit, and clinic setting. We switch gears and analyze and highlight human factors and design issues found in patient units, clinical and emergency units, information flow between units and services, printed and electronic patient health records, hospital information systems in multiple stages of transition, and the human systems design problems throughout the workflow. We discuss a few successful institutional services and how they meet these needs. We could also highlight (inset) the versatility and effectiveness of the VA’s 30+ year old VistA system, and how the old and new information systems are brought together in secure web-based infrastructures. Design practices and innovation opportunities can be developed within case studies.

Design process example: Artifacts analysis, Activity-based design
Design lesson: Information design in acute care coordination