How might we reimagine a pediatric burn treatment facility as a magical environment?

First re-frame the project to create a digital experience for the check in system, which is the first touchpoint. From there create a healing environment to follow.

Integrating human warmth with digital effectiveness

The greeter serves several crucial functions within the waiting room. Firstly, they assist families in seamless digital check-ins, offer emotional support to families, and coordinate creative activities for the patients.

Spatial Program

A. Private Orientation
B. On deck seating
C. Calming Play Area
D. Greeter Kiosk
E. Active Play Area (Interactive Play Wall)

Engaging in active, interactive play.

The interactive story wall introduces children to the magical
ecosystem as well as gives them a preview of the treatment experience through occupational and physical therapeutic play. 

Connecting families through shared experience.

Comfortable seating is arranged around the play zone
catalyzing engagement between families through
the experience of watching their children play together.

Creating space for human interaction

The reception desk has been redesigned to encourage parents and staff to connect and interact during challenging times, while also offering them a partially private area to review essential documents.

Overview

For 36 years, COANIQUEM has been delivering free healthcare services throughout South America. In the spring of 2016, eleven students had the opportunity to immerse themselves in COANIQUEM's medical environment, collaborating with the organization's staff, patients, and families to share experiences and aspirations.

In alignment with COANIQUEM's comprehensive healthcare philosophy, these students undertook a course restructuring effort. They worked alongside faculty, subject matter experts, and users to co-create a curriculum and deliverables aimed at reimagining COANIQUEM's pediatric rehabilitation facility. For more information, you can visit the following link: Link

Challenge

The initial treatment touchpoint is further complicated by feelings of anxiety, boredom, and a sense of sterility.

Opportunity

What if we envisioned the waiting room as a space that is not only engaging, efficient, and inviting. That integrates technology and also possesses a touch of magic for patients, parents, and staff?

Role
Product / Spacial Designer

Skills
Field Research

Wireframes / Prototypes

Rhino and Vray

Subject Matter Expert Interviews
 

Stakeholders included:

• Staff, patients, and families at COANIQUEM

• Scott Flora- Co-Founder of BLIK and designed the environmental graphics at the UCLA Mattel's Children Hospital 

• Kelley Carroll- UCLA's Child Life Program Manager

• Bruce Vaughn- Chief Creative Disney Imagineer

• Dr. Esther Sternberg- Healing Spaces

• Long Beach Children's Hospital

Through these multiple stakeholder interviews that main conclusion supported creating opportunities for  the patient to reestablish trust in themselves and with others by putting them in control of moments throughout the day.

Following the burn event:

• optimal healing occurs during moments of acceptance around the event and the injury

• patients experience a recovery period averaging 12 years 

• the child and parent share:
  a parallel journey of grief –
  rejection, self blame, 
  depression, acceptance

• parents lose trust in child and self

• children lose efficacy and control

Cultural Model

To synthesize the insight we gained from stakeholder interviews at COANIQUEM, we mapped the cultural and social values we came across.  We looked at staff, patients and parents as both users and stakeholders given the universal contribution from everyone involved. 

Fifty percent of COANIQUEM's patients all donate time to COANIQUEM's annual fund raising efforts through door to door outreach, a majority of their physicians volunteer, and their staff also donate to the foundation, all direct examples of the core internal values of solidarity, human compassion, resourcefulness
and optimism.

Kids grow, scars don't.

Treatment is incredibly painful as therapists work to break down scar tissue masses also known as contractures.  Contractures impede movement and malform growth.

The success of each treatment session depends on the emotional outlook of the patient.

To explore how play could be used to introduce treatment, a number of prototypes that blended therapy movements with skill building games were tested in the studio then brought to the field. 

A Enchanted Ecosystem

Every treatment necessitates a unique perspective for optimal results. It entails patients acquiring life lessons that are instrumental in successful therapy sessions. The treatment team goes beyond being solely clinical professionals; they serve as mentors and guides.

In collaboration with both the staff and patients, the design team engaged in a co-creative process to develop a group of animal characters designed to support Santi, a character prominently featured in COANIQUEM's highly successful annual burn prevention campaigns.

Each character symbolizes a blend of the clinicians responsible for specific treatments, indigenous animals from Chile's diverse ecosystems, and a set of values or insights that patients need to internalize for enhanced treatment outcomes.

70% of COANIQUEM's patients are under six which required participatory research methods to uncover latent patient needs.

Promote creative projects to uncover hidden needs

Engaging in a puppet-making workshop allowed the design team to directly collaborate with patients, confirming the significance of providing "empowerment opportunities." This ranged from allowing patients to design their own characters to ensuring that tables were appropriately sized for those under the age of six.

The significance of demonstrating each step of the activity became evident when the newly crafted puppets unexpectedly engaged in spontaneous boxing matches.

Un-facilitated crafts to
understand engagement.

Additional insight gained included observations on how parents began to engage with each other as they observed their children playing. 

Experiential Prototype

To facilitate dialogue between families we experimented with various seating arrangements.

We were challenged to create a flexible seating plan to accommodate summer and winter capacities ranging from thirty to eighty-five people.

Age Range: 28
Education: College
City: La Serena, Chile

Mother of 3-year-old moving with new scarring.

Motivations

I want my child to be healed
I want my child to be safe
I want my child to be happy

Pain Points

A child in constant need
Unfamiliar with treatment
Frequently feels isolated

Free healthcare comes at a price

In consideration of the parents' work commitments and potential travel difficulties, the staff arranges multiple appointments with various therapists to make the most of each visit to Santiago.

Parents are faced with the task of taking time off work, arranging additional childcare, or coordinating with each other to manage waiting responsibilities.

The appointment notification system, resembling the notorious long waits at the DMV, confines parents to the waiting room for extended periods, spanning from 3 to 8 hours at a time.

Patient Experience: Current State

1. Colleen Arrives at Coaniquem wondering where to check in.
2. Colleen enters with Antonella, not sure how to start process, she notices reception window.
3. The Reception Staff instructs them to take a number.
4. Takes a number.
5. Waits for number to be called.
6. Colleen’s is called to reception. where she is calmed by the Reception Staff who digitizes her contact info and checks Antonella in.
7. Waits for name to be called by professional.
8. Professional calls Antonella and meets Colleen.

Greeter Probe

Through multiple prototypes we realized the greeter was the first touchpoint when families and patients entered the waiting room. They were usually lost and in emotional distress and needed to figure out what to do when entering the waiting room. 

Through this insight we tested where in the waiting room families felt the most comfortable asking for the help they need and found they felt the most comfortable off to the side of the waiting room (where the ticket system currently is) because it was semi private and familiar.   

Patient Experience: Future State

1. Colleen Arrives at Coaniquem wondering where to    check in.
2. She is greeted and instructed to input her contact
    information into the tablet. 
3.  She waits to receive a text message while
     Antonella plays with other children.
4.  Colleen is oriented to COANIQUEM, and
     reasurred she and Antonella are in the right place.
5.  The Specialist greets Antonella and Colleen in
     waiting room and they head to examination room.

My takeaway from my experience at Coaniquem was profound. Initially, I was apprehensive about how I would handle the emotions of being at a child burn clinic. To prepare myself, I consulted with professionals in the field, attended sensitivity training workshops, and visited hospitals. These steps helped me gain a better understanding of the challenges ahead.

Upon arriving at Coaniquem, I was welcomed with an overwhelming sense of love and belonging. It was clear that we were wanted and appreciated for the work we were there to do.

One particular story still resonates with me. I met a little girl, whom I affectionately refer to as "Smoosh," with a radiant smile despite having bandages covering her body. During a puppet-making workshop aimed at empowering children to express themselves, she approached me and said, "I want a pig with a pink tail." We created that pig for her, and over the next three days, every time I saw her, she would run up to me and give me a big hug.

One day, she approached me with a smaller smile and asked if I could scratch her itchy burns. In that moment, I wasn't sure how to react, but her mother reassured me, saying, "It is okay." So, I did just that.

This little girl became my inspiration to contribute to an environment that would bring countless more smiles to the children passing through Coaniquem's doors. The Safe Ninos project remains my favorite endeavor. I was part of a team of 12 designers who shared the same passion and dedication. I also learned valuable lessons about empathy and the transformative power of design in creating meaningful spaces, which I now bring to other projects.