Geneva Frank
Building a Mock-up for Littleton Adventist Hospital
On Tuesday, we drove to Littleton, Colorado to spend the day building a life-size hospital room to get the staff’s feedback. Boulder Associates has done a few of these in the past and wants to start doing more because it really affects the outcome of the design for the better. We marked up the walls on the floor of where we were building it with tape and then started constructing the walls out of giant sheets of cardboard that had been ordered for us. After the walls were constructed, we started building the casework out of cardboard and attaching them to the walls. We tried to build it with the most accuracy we could. We added accessories and equipment out of cardboard as well such as a TV, glove boxes, paper towel and soap dispensers. We used sticky notes with symbols on them to show where data and outlets could be. Then when the users come in, they are able to move them and place them in the spots that they want, if the current spots are not the most efficient. Facilities staff from the hospital brought the sleeper sofa and hospital bed that would be in the room. After we finished constructing the entire post-partum room, nurses and other staff members who would work in this room, walked through and we talked through all of the various areas of the room. We ripped out some of the casework and reassembled it to try out different layouts that the nurses suggested. We learned what they liked about the room, what worked and what didn’t. We were writing down all of the plus and minuses that were in the room. We learned about various elements that we had not accounted for such as the linen hamper that needed a space in the room as well as the K-Pad which is a heating pad for the mothers to use. It’s needs an outlet in order to work and in the current rooms there is not a good spot for them and makes it difficult for the mother’s to use. This was an amazing experience and am so glad I got to help since these do not very happen often. I would definitely participate in this event again.
This will be the community Blog for IDS 420 Summer 2016. Students will post their responses to weekly Journal Assignments here as well as view posts/comments from other participants.
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