<aside> ⭐ REFLECTION: I have a very strong idea of both the issue I am trying to solve in this project, and also the ways in which the area currently functions. This will allow me to design in a way that is effective and optimistically deliver a viable solution.
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I had already established in an earlier entry that I want to focus on the emergency care crisis in Northern Ireland for this project. After further research into this specific area, I feel that I could design a great digital solution for the initial stages of the patient entry into an Emergency Department. This will include the stages of:
I aim to enhance this user experience through digital means. Every design decision will be implemented in an attempt to ease the pressure on emergency departments through managing the volume of traffic entering into ED and managing the current traffic in the care of ED.
After considering all of the research I have carried out and my defined approach to this project, I composed the brief which will define the potential outcome of this project.
| PROJECT TITLE | A Digitally Enhanced Pathway Through Emergency Care |
|---|---|
| CONTEXT | The focus of this project will be reducing the current crisis of patient waiting times in Emergency Departments throughout Northern Ireland, and creating a more positive service user experience in Emergency Departments. |
| PROJECT SUMMARY | The current crisis state of Emergency Care in Northern Ireland brings unprecedented waiting times and congestion in Emergency Departments which puts this service and it’s staff under immense stress. I want to create a digital approach to receiving patients into Emergency Departments which will be designed to reduce this stress. This project will address various points of the patient/user journey, including: aiding the patient in deciding if Emergency Care is the most appropriate care pathway for them, improving the arrival and check in of the patient and improving the patient’s journey though the Emergency Department right through until receiving care, redirection to other services or discharge. I also intend to aid staff in having a more comprehensive and immediate knowledge of the patient entering into their care. I will look at examples of digital approaches to emergency care globally in order to inform the delivery of my outcome. |
| OUTCOME | A solution will take the form of a landscape of integrated user flows and digital touch points which aim to promote efficient service use and concise organisation of patients. This will promote both a positive User Experience for service users, and a controlled, manageable traffic of patients for care providers. I intend to deliver a patient facing application, a digitally enhanced patient facing infrastructure within Emergency Departments, a point care application to aid staff upon receiving and streaming patients, and a service design proposal laying out an improved and digitally enhanced entry pathway for patients into Emergency Care. |
| KEY MILESTONES | Week 1-3: Research Phase (Deadline: 21/02/24) |
| Week 4-7: Ideation & Sketching (Deadline: 27/03/24) | |
| Week 8-12: Building Prototype, User Testing, Iteration and Delivery (Deadline 08/05/24) |
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