Presentation
Designing Medical Spaces to Meet the Unique Needs of Underserved Populations
SessionPoster Session 2
DescriptionHuman-centred design is a methodology that places a primacy on understanding the lived experiences, cognitive and physical loads, and contextual needs of those who interact within a space, product, or service to guide meaningful change and innovation. When integrated with a human factors lens, we are provided with a powerful approach to build safer, more efficient, and more effective products, processes, and environments.
Historically, the design of medical environments has prioritized efficiency and infection control to support clinical workflows. However, as patient populations become more complex due to aging populations and increasing co-morbidities and care models address more holistic needs, including the social determinants of health, these spaces must evolve to support not only clinical effectiveness but also psychological safety, dignity, and trust. Applying human factors principles to environmental design and workflow optimization can help ensure these spaces meet the cognitive, emotional, and physical needs of diverse users, including patients, clinicians, and families.
This presentation will walk participants through the human-centred process used in the design of an innovative medical environment to specifically serve patients of a Social Medicine program in Toronto, Canada. Social Medicine (SM) addresses the needs of those who do not have access to stable housing, nutritious food, and financial security, which can directly impact health outcomes. Many SM patients face insurmountable systemic barriers, experiencing trauma and harm within traditional medical environments. Social medicine programs work to support human dignity and prevent avoidable suffering by taking a more proactive and holistic approach to healthcare.
The goal of this project was to design a Social Medicine Hub (SM Hub) that would become a central point of access for primary care, integrated substance use care, social supports, and system navigation within a broader social medicine model of care, it was necessary to learn about the barriers in existing medical spaces such as emergency departments, inpatient units, or specialty clinics and how those barriers might be ameliorated.
Observation and engagement with clinical and community care teams allowed our team to identify the clinical requirements a space would need to fill. Added insights from clinical engagement highlighted a need to consider safety and security, how multidisciplinary collaboration could be supported, and the flexibility of the actual space to meet changing needs.
Engagement with this patient population was approached using a variety of creative design methodologies including persona development, journey mapping, and physical 3D modelling. Providing participants an opportunity to experience the unbuilt space through a physical 3D scale model allowed them to consider how they might interact within the space. Our team was also able to use the model to explore the human factors of the environment including key interaction points, how to create an open and welcoming experience from the point of entry onward, and how the physical space would need to adapt to unique scenarios.
By creating a safe and open space for collaborative visioning, our team was able to understand and capture the unique needs of the underserved patient population. Key insights captured during engagement with clinical teams and patients informed the design of the hub space and model of care:
-Many SM patients are resistant to traditional documentation practices
-People want to be seen as more than their circumstances and treated as humans with autonomy and choice
-Follow-up after medical appointments can be very difficult for people with no fixed address and no means of contact
-Medical needs are not simply physical, and many clinical teams are not well equipped or supported to assess the social determinants of health
-The concept of “registration” can be a barrier for some people but when there are no records of a visit this can close the doors to care pathways
-Housing is not the only determinant of need, but it is the most recognized
In addition, 3 key criteria were noted, a hub space should:
-Not be a duplicate of existing services but augment them
-Feel welcoming and provide a space that feels safe without judgement
-Look and feel different than a traditional medical space and be approached through a trauma-informed lens
The resulting SM Hub model of care for and physical space design incorporated these insights and focused on improving the experiences of care and facilitating their connection to the right care in the right place at the right time through strong, intentional partnerships with community organizations that can extend support beyond the hospital walls.
By integrating trauma-informed principles and community-based support, we can begin to close the gap in health outcomes for our most underserved populations.
Historically, the design of medical environments has prioritized efficiency and infection control to support clinical workflows. However, as patient populations become more complex due to aging populations and increasing co-morbidities and care models address more holistic needs, including the social determinants of health, these spaces must evolve to support not only clinical effectiveness but also psychological safety, dignity, and trust. Applying human factors principles to environmental design and workflow optimization can help ensure these spaces meet the cognitive, emotional, and physical needs of diverse users, including patients, clinicians, and families.
This presentation will walk participants through the human-centred process used in the design of an innovative medical environment to specifically serve patients of a Social Medicine program in Toronto, Canada. Social Medicine (SM) addresses the needs of those who do not have access to stable housing, nutritious food, and financial security, which can directly impact health outcomes. Many SM patients face insurmountable systemic barriers, experiencing trauma and harm within traditional medical environments. Social medicine programs work to support human dignity and prevent avoidable suffering by taking a more proactive and holistic approach to healthcare.
The goal of this project was to design a Social Medicine Hub (SM Hub) that would become a central point of access for primary care, integrated substance use care, social supports, and system navigation within a broader social medicine model of care, it was necessary to learn about the barriers in existing medical spaces such as emergency departments, inpatient units, or specialty clinics and how those barriers might be ameliorated.
Observation and engagement with clinical and community care teams allowed our team to identify the clinical requirements a space would need to fill. Added insights from clinical engagement highlighted a need to consider safety and security, how multidisciplinary collaboration could be supported, and the flexibility of the actual space to meet changing needs.
Engagement with this patient population was approached using a variety of creative design methodologies including persona development, journey mapping, and physical 3D modelling. Providing participants an opportunity to experience the unbuilt space through a physical 3D scale model allowed them to consider how they might interact within the space. Our team was also able to use the model to explore the human factors of the environment including key interaction points, how to create an open and welcoming experience from the point of entry onward, and how the physical space would need to adapt to unique scenarios.
By creating a safe and open space for collaborative visioning, our team was able to understand and capture the unique needs of the underserved patient population. Key insights captured during engagement with clinical teams and patients informed the design of the hub space and model of care:
-Many SM patients are resistant to traditional documentation practices
-People want to be seen as more than their circumstances and treated as humans with autonomy and choice
-Follow-up after medical appointments can be very difficult for people with no fixed address and no means of contact
-Medical needs are not simply physical, and many clinical teams are not well equipped or supported to assess the social determinants of health
-The concept of “registration” can be a barrier for some people but when there are no records of a visit this can close the doors to care pathways
-Housing is not the only determinant of need, but it is the most recognized
In addition, 3 key criteria were noted, a hub space should:
-Not be a duplicate of existing services but augment them
-Feel welcoming and provide a space that feels safe without judgement
-Look and feel different than a traditional medical space and be approached through a trauma-informed lens
The resulting SM Hub model of care for and physical space design incorporated these insights and focused on improving the experiences of care and facilitating their connection to the right care in the right place at the right time through strong, intentional partnerships with community organizations that can extend support beyond the hospital walls.
By integrating trauma-informed principles and community-based support, we can begin to close the gap in health outcomes for our most underserved populations.
Event Type
Poster Presentation
TimeTuesday, March 244:45pm - 6:15pm EDT
LocationRhinelander Gallery
Hospital Environments