At Cabrini we are working on a number of upgrades across our sites to ensure we are continuing to deliver the best of care, with the best equipment, in the best facilities. Thanks to the Charles Allen Charitable Trust managed by Australian Executor Trustees, Cabrini Foundation have recently been able to fund a project to upgrade the emergency department waiting room at Cabrini Malvern.
In conjunction with the Monash University Design Health Collab, part of the Monash Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture (MADA), Cabrini is working to enhance the Cabrini Malvern Emergency department waiting room to make it a more welcoming and engaging area for patients and families. ‘We know that emergency department waiting rooms can be an anxious place to be, so we are working with Monash University Design Health Collab to make it a more positive experience at Cabrini’ says Cabrini Director of Emergency Medicine Associate Professor Michael Ben-Meir.
The collaboration involves developing, building and installing a custom designed interactive media display in the Cabrini Malvern Emergency department waiting room to present specifically developed content from MADA artists, photographers, videographers and digital media creators. While keeping in mind Cabrini’s important infection prevention control measures, the display allows the innovative use of creative technologies to use visual and sensory engagement for positive distraction.
‘Our researchers were briefed on areas in Cabrini where human-centred design and creative use of technology could improve health outcomes for patients’ says Professor Daphne Flynn, Director, Monash University’s Design Health Collab. ‘The emergency department waiting room provides an opportunity for the design and application of interactive media through a large display screen to promote comfort by creating a relaxing and healing environment with a nature theme.’
The project includes a brief ethnography study focusing on understanding the consumer needs in the clinical context of the emergency department. It uses a set of qualitative methods that are used in design research that focus on the observation of social practices and interactions. This study will inform the way new technologies are humanised and delivered in a manner that ensures a high quality patient experience.
The project will take approximately 12 months to complete, including the development of the media content.
‘We are grateful to Australian Executor Trustees for helping us to bring this project to life at Cabrini Malvern’ says Director of Cabrini Foundation Sue Parkes. ‘We will be sure to share with everyone the final result next year’.
To contribute to special projects at Cabrini call 03 9508 1380 or email foundation@cabrini.com.au.