Service design for Yale New Haven Hospital system.
The Yale New Haven Hospital system runs a 24 hour full-service emergency department. The senior management was receiving consistent reports of low patient satisfaction scores despite investing in the best care providers. They came to our group to understand the issues and use design methods to solve for them.
Role
Lead & managed research & strategy team. Crafted proposal, developed research plan, managed head counts, developed research insights, designed & conducted workshops, developed project report & client hand-offs.
Michael Graves Design Group, Princeton, NJ
Project background
Researching the current state to frame key issues to resolve
The project team spent the first few days observing the facility and documenting the journey and key scenarios. Where were able to, we conducted contextual interviews to gather patient and provider insights.
Identifying opportunities for design & operations
Based on the insights, we framed what success would look like. We took the service design approach where we framed this from both the customer and organizational perspectives.
Delivering concept space designs & improvement metrics
Working with the management team and the architecture team, we developed architecture and interior design concepts along with directional documents for operational improvements.
Observations and contextual interviews
The project team visited every part of the facility - from the parking lot, to staff rooms, the lobby to the patient checkout. Based on this and contextual interviews, we made a detailed assessment of the patient and provider experience.
Ideation: Redesign of ED operations to include flexible room allocation.
Reducing wait times was one of the key factors for improved patient satisfaction. The concept explored a space plan that incorporates flex-rooms to accommodate varying volumes of fast-track vs acute care patients.
Improved wayfinding and modernized ED reception area.
A key research insight was that customers felt lost as they stepped into the ED. They were not sure of the process and security personnel often acted as ‘ushers’ of customers. The waiting area was redesigned to provide more privacy.
Operational outcomes
Improving staff performance through better design
One of the insights from research was that the space design was not conducive for the ED staff. The existing structure had maximized the area for patient rooms while not providing optimal spaces for staff to de-stress. Suggestions were provided regarding the space allocation, interior design for stress relief and staff activities.
Systems for collaboration, data sharing and transparency
A key insight was regarding the paperwork involved in the day to day running of the ED. Many of the systems were outdated and had not kept pace with the expectations of both the staff and customers. While the goal of management was to eliminate printer paperwork, the modularity of systems was not conducive to this. IT systems improvement was flagged as a key driver of success.
Humanizing the language to be more patient centered
In contextual interviews, patients expressed discomfort around terms such as ‘triage’ that were commonly used to denote counters and specific activities. While this made sense to the staff, patients who were visiting the ED felt alienated. One of the key suggestions provided was to humanize the language used by staff and around the facility in order to better serve patients walking in.