Presentation
Flooring Flaws and Falls- Systems Perspective on Shower Safety
SessionBuilt Environments (HE7)
DescriptionIn an inpatient acute care environment, showers can provide a sense of normalcy as well as prevent infection during a prolonged hospital stay. Nursing staff partner with patients to help them gain independence in this process prior to discharge. While there are clear benefits to showers that accommodate various levels of independence, the shower environment also introduces hazards that can lead to slips and falls for both patients and staff. In addition to physical injuries, there can also be emotional impacts for the clinicians that have patients fall while under their care.
In this presentation, the team will use a completed shower improvement project example to illustrate to participants the many roles human factors practitioners, patient safety specialists and leaders played and the methods used to implement a successful, safe shower design.
Throughout the project, human factors practitioners played the role of liaison between clinical staff and facilities teams by translating clinical needs and concerns to design requirements of the facility solutions needed to mitigate risks.
In the solution development portion of the project, practitioners evaluated hazards from an interdisciplinary perspective, including both fixed structural elements and use patterns. With consideration of the interactions among design choices in the built environment and use patterns, the team was able to build rigorous evaluation criteria that includes requirements for all stakeholders.
While the solution design was important, the team will also address how human factors principles applied to advocating for resources and navigating complex organizational dynamics. The team will show how cognitive tunneling impacted other stakeholders’ perceptions of the problem and the required solution. Using holistic evaluation mechanisms, referencing design changes made in subsequent inpatient unit construction projects, and showing downstream impact to patients and caregivers the team worked through resistance to drive meaningful change.
In this presentation, the team will use a completed shower improvement project example to illustrate to participants the many roles human factors practitioners, patient safety specialists and leaders played and the methods used to implement a successful, safe shower design.
Throughout the project, human factors practitioners played the role of liaison between clinical staff and facilities teams by translating clinical needs and concerns to design requirements of the facility solutions needed to mitigate risks.
In the solution development portion of the project, practitioners evaluated hazards from an interdisciplinary perspective, including both fixed structural elements and use patterns. With consideration of the interactions among design choices in the built environment and use patterns, the team was able to build rigorous evaluation criteria that includes requirements for all stakeholders.
While the solution design was important, the team will also address how human factors principles applied to advocating for resources and navigating complex organizational dynamics. The team will show how cognitive tunneling impacted other stakeholders’ perceptions of the problem and the required solution. Using holistic evaluation mechanisms, referencing design changes made in subsequent inpatient unit construction projects, and showing downstream impact to patients and caregivers the team worked through resistance to drive meaningful change.
Event Type
Oral Presentations
TimeTuesday, April 13:50pm - 4:10pm EDT
LocationHarbour C
Hospital Environments (HE)