Rethinking daycare at Stavanger Hospital

Exploring what the future daycare unit might look like

In close collaboration with New Stavanger University Hospital’s organisational development team, EGGS set out to explore potential organisational models and service offerings for the hospital's daycare unit. The goals were to:

• Discover what patients and their families believe is essential when meeting with healthcare staff (nurses, doctors, and surgeons) and what brings an added value to the health care services.

• Find ways to break down silos between departments in the hospital to promote closer cooperation and less information hierarchy.

• Educate the core team in service design methods to place patients at the heart of future service developments.

Employee and patient involvement as a key driver for innovation

As a part of the transition towards New Stavanger University Hospital, the hospital has defined user involvement of both patients and staff as critical drivers for renewal and improvement in the health services. Moving into new hospital spaces means new ways of working. To adopt new working methods, the hospital is involving employees as much as possible. A belief is that good working conditions for employees will provide the best possible experience for the users of the hospital.

40% reduction of waiting time

To transform ideas into initiatives, we held a design sprint with the healthcare staff. The sprint led to the opening of a new wound diagnostic centre in February 2019. This was initially a pilot where the focus was on organising health care personnel around the patients’ needs and not the other way around. Since the opening, the new wound centre has been a success, both in terms of staff satisfaction and reducing waiting time for patients. In 2019, the average waiting time was 23,4 days. In 2020, the same number fell to 14 days - a reduction of 40%.

The goal was to ensure that this patient-group got faster, better assessment, and quicker treatment, thereby avoiding any further degeneration or chronic issues.

Feeling safe and empowered

Many patients didn't express health-related concerns to be their most pressing concern when at the hospital. They expected and felt they were met with consistent and high levels of physical treatment. "Feeling safe" and "empowered" were keywords the patients conveyed. A key to that was experiencing good information, a sense of empathy from health care providers and collaboration-efficiency between medical specialists.

This insight is especially significant in light of the current health trends:

• There is an increase in people with chronic diseases.

• The population is aging.

• The available resources for health care have to serve a larger group of patients.

• Emerging technology and digitalisation offer new opportunities for healthcare.

The new demands on how hospitals should offer treatment and follow-ups meant it was crucial that we complied and empathized with people's different needs and situations.

Patients would like more empathy and information when being treated. They wish to be seen both as a patient and an individual. And to be included in their treatment plans.

Bridging professions through co-creation

Everyone on the core team has been closely collaborating on every aspect of the project, from conducting insight with patients and healthcare staff, analysing and articulating ideas, to planning and implementing the pilot. This co-creation was crucial for the project’s success. EGGS facilitated the process. The healthcare staff's planning expertise helped escort us through a maze of organisational know-how concerning the hospital's working environment, thus bridging the gap between designers and medical specialists.