Health
Designing experiences, products and services to improve health outcomes and promote wellbeing.
Health Made Better
About
We are a diverse group of designers and researchers dedicated to advancing the field of design for health. We use applied design-led methodologies to create products, services, experiences and interventions that improve health outcomes and promote wellbeing.
Why Design & Health
Design offers a solution-focused approach to solving complex multifaceted problems related to health and wellbeing. It offers a framework for understanding this complexity and for developing solutions that meet the needs of all stakeholders.
Who we work with
Our research is inherently interdisciplinary. Working at the intersection of research, design and clinical expertise, we research, design and evaluate interventions all with a focus on improving health and wellbeing. We work closely with hospital, academic, industry and community collaborators. Our collaborators include the Mater Hospital, Design Innovation Lab at St James’s Hospital, RCSI, Peamount Hospital and Tympany Medical.
How we work
At the core of our work is an applied design-led methodology which incorporates rigorous research, interdisciplinary collaboration, and a people-centered approach. We work closely with health professionals, users and relevant stakeholders to map, understand and co-design solutions which we iteratively prototype, deploy and evaluate in context. This approach enables us to develop solutions that are impactful, effective, and accessible.
Partners
Working in partnership with the HSE Spark Innovation Programme we explore new approaches to design for health that prioritise patient-centered care and improve health outcomes. By partnering with The Digital Hub we have a space for working, collaborating, prototyping, testing, and scaling and growing.
Projects
Our projects range in scale and form, from the design of medical devices, healthcare services and systems, to the design of physical and digital tools to support patient experience and staff workflow. In addition to this, our work includes the development of new tools and methodologies in the field of design for health.
StrokeLINK
A unique programme of poststroke care designed to keep patients well at home, helping patients to feel confident to manage their own condition post stroke.
Transplant patient education
Tools to help patients help themselves after heart and lung transplant
The Big IDea!
Enabling quick identification of ward staff at a glance.
Dementia Friendly Ward
Creating a sense of space with a colourful place: reducing disorientation and agitation for people with dementia
Care to wait
How might we deliver a better Emergency Department waiting room experience for patients
Nursing Assessments Matter
The Nursing Assessment form is a document that informs care for the 25,000 plus patients that are admitted to the Mater each year. The team reduced this form from 19 pages down to 5.
Looking for Eyes
Making way-finding to patients attending the Eye (Ophthalmology) departments at the Mater Hospital.
See & Treat
Helping patients to understand and engage with a “one –stop shop” surgical pathway
Sim-U-Skin
There is an urgent need to rethink how skin conditions are managed across the healthcare system. It is anticipated that skin cancer will increase by 200% in the next 10 years.
Information flow in the major trauma treatment bay
This project explored the current journey of major trauma patients and aims to improve communication flows of emergency staff to effectively use life-saving time in major trauma cases.
EyeVu
Developing a viable circular economy business model that reduces the amount of waste generated (versus a single-use model) throughout an endoscope's life.
Rehabilitation
Applying a design methodology to explore the challenge of increasing available rehabilitation therapy time for patients at Peamount Hospital
Putting Stroke Survivors First: A Design-Led Approach to Early Supported Discharge (ESD)
Make Every Contact Count (MECC) Digital
An integrated digital platform supporting brief interventions in healthcare.
Outputs
Gleeson LL, Clyne B, Barlow JW, Ryan B, Murphy P, Wallace E, De Brún A, Mellon L, Hanratty M, Ennis M, Holton A, Pate M, Kirke C, Flood M, Moriarty F. (2023) Medication safety incidents associated with the remote delivery of primary care: a rapid review. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice. 2023 Jan 3
Malone A, Gallagher S, Saidi J, Rizq G, O’Dowd E, Vallence D, Hameed A. In vitro benchtop mock circulatory loop for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction emulation. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2022 Jul 22
Healion, D., O’Dowd, E., Russell, S. (2018) The development of a methodology for contextual user research in healthcare design projects, In: G. Craddock et al., eds., Transforming our World Through Design, Diversity and Education, IOS Press
Healion, D., O’Dowd, E., Russell, S. (2018). The discovery and visualization of Human Factors in Healthcare procedures, In: K. Christer, C. Craig and D. Wolstenholme, eds., Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Design4Health, 2018. hSeffield Hallam University.
McNamara, R., Ryan, M., McGowan, Y., Herron, C., Finnegan, J., and Gormly, J. (2023) ‘User-Centred Design Approach to LTFT Working: Exploring Barriers and Enablers to Less Than Full-time Working / Training for NCHDs’, IMO Conference on Gender Equality in Medicine, 2023 (18th Feb)
Ryan, M. Carroll, A. Chillingworth, E. (2022) ‘Driving Innovation with Human Centered Design’, Irish Association of Directors of Nursing and Midwifery [IADNAM] Conference 2022 (6th Oct), Mount Wolseley, Co Carlow
Ryan, M. and Chillingworth, E. (2022) ‘Towards a better patient pathway for MaxFax prosthesis patients: A patient centered design approach to innovation’, HSE Spark Summit 2022, Clayton Hotel, Dublin
Ní Shé, É., O’Shea, M. Manning, S., MacFarlane, A., McDunphy, L., O’Kane, E., O’Shea, C., Gannon, M., Gibney, D., Creighton, E., and Marnane, M. (2022) Evaluation of the StrokeLINK approach – is it an effective mechanism for improving patient empowerment and integrating care?, All-Ireland Conference on Integrated Care 2022, 10 Mar, 2022.
Healion, D., O’Dowd, E., Russell, S. (2018). The development of a methodology for contextual user research in healthcare design projects. Universal Design and Higher Education in Transformation Congress (UDHEIT), Dublin, Ireland. 30th Oct – 2nd Nov 2018.
Healion, D., O’Dowd, E., Russell, S. (2018). The discovery and visualization of Human Factors in Healthcare procedures. Design4Health Conference, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, England. 4th-6th Sept 2018.
