The importance of good design in healthcare takes on a whole new meaning when we talk about pediatric care. Children’s hospitals are filled with art, music, color, plants, natural light – anything to mask the bleak, eerie feel of a sterile environment.
Lately, I’ve noticed healthcare facilities and innovators seem to be also paying more attention to the little things that might impact a patient’s stay in the hospital. Here are two neat design ideas I recently came across aimed at distracting children from the reason that they’re in the hospital in the first place.
The first concept, designed by Jung Hyun Min, adds some color and distraction to the process of fluid transfusion for kids. It’s a clear, floating ball with a small rubber ducky inside. Designed to be put inside of a standard fluid bag, the “Halo Duck” bobs around as the fluid level drops. When the transfusion is complete and the bag is empty, it serves as a plug in the tube hold to prevent the back-flow of blood.
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Halo duck from minjenny on Vimeo.
A.C. Camargo Cancer Center in Brazil and ad agency JWT Brazil took that concept a step further by transforming chemotherapy into “superformula.” Based on the idea that believing in the cure is the first step in fighting cancer, they created cases that disguise chemotherapy IV bags. The agency also produced a series of cartoons and comic books in which superheroes face challenges reflective of those faced by cancer patients, and recover with the help of “superformula.”