A bed misplaced?

As a part of our service design project at Randers District Hospital we’ve spent the last weeks carrying out user studies at the hospital’s acute ward. Here, a dedicated but overloaded staff is trying to keep up with everyday surprises like a sudden explosion of in-coming patients. Too many patients and too little space requires drastic measures and additional beds are placed everywhere possible. At the photo above a creative nurse has decided to place a bed on the hallway next to a fridge. Why? Because this is the only way to get access to a spare power socket! Needless to say this is far from perfect for neither patients nor staff ... Well, we can’t do anything about the number of ill patients but we can re-think important parameters such as work-flow, orientation of physical objects, communication and signage. And as soon as our empirical data is collected that’s what we’re about to do (allowing the nurses to use their energy on more important matters ...)