a mediator between the patient and the med-
ical team. ‘Information and emotions can
sometimes overwhelm patients and make it
difficult for them to make the right choices,’
says Stuyfzand. ‘Our whole conception of
healthcare is being overhauled. Designers
play a key role in this process, because they
are quintessential in visualizing data – from
patient satisfaction to productivity per
square metre – and in translating the infor-
mation into empathic environments. Design
can facilitate spaces that heal.’
The patient, certainly in the future, is
a consumer with choices, says Stuyfzand, who
sees a starring role for the empathic designer.
‘Designers are good at bringing people
together. Unlike specialists such as architects,
designers have their fingers in every pie.
Empathy comes naturally to the designer,
who recognizes what people want and knows
how to translate, visualize and explain intan-
gible elements. Intuition helps the experience
designer to respond to the hospital patient’s
individual needs. The strength of design lies
in its holistic attitude, but design also plays
an important facilitating role in a co-creation
process that directly involves caregivers and
all key stakeholders in hospital organizations.’
What does this mean in practice? The
hospital is becoming more and more of a ser-
vice centre, a highly specialized environment
that hones in on the individual’s experience
while being efficient as well. Chances are thatsome people will see it as impersonal, though.
You check in online beforehand, spend a
brief time in the waiting room, receive your
treatment and walk out the door. Aftercare
happens at home or elsewhere. ‘Hospitals are
extremely cost-intensive environments. If
we can have ten rather than five people
undergo an MRI or a CT scan per hour, that’s
a good thing. It’s also important from an
economic perspective to have people in the
hospital for as short a time as possible, but
you do run the risk that they will feel some-
what depersonalized.’
For inspiration in the fields of service,
experience and logistics, Stuyfzand keeps an
eye on airports, such as Amsterdam Airport
Schiphol. He looks at how lounges are
furnished, with seats that are both safe and
comfortable for short-term use, and reviews
the airport’s logistics. As a passenger, before
leaving home you check in online, select
your seat, state your dietary wishes, indicate
the number of bags – even request a courier
service to pick up your baggage, allowing you
to hop on the plane, unencumbered. It’s an
approach that befits the hospital of the future,
he says: intelligent, serviceable, personal,
efficient and safe. The patient has uninter-
rupted access to a care network from home,
a neighbourhood medical centre and admis-
sion to specialized hospitals. ●
philips.nl/healthcareAdaptive healing rooms that offer intuitive user
interfaces can be tailored to the needs of both
staff and patient.whether it be a waiting room or an operat-
ing theatre, generates optimal conditions
for recovery? If it promotes wellbeing, it
promotes healing.
The success of a treatment relies on
more than the medical intervention, however,
as seen in a hospital landscape that’s evolving
by leaps and bounds. Hospital stays are sure
to become shorter now that only the most
specialized medical care will take place on the
premises. ‘Treatment in outpatient settings
will increase,’ says Stuyfzand. ‘Medical inno-
vations are advancing rapidly, and treatments
that once required surgical intervention
can now be done using minimally invasive
techniques in many cases.’
Less invasive surgery is leading to
a rethinking of the services hospitals have
to offer. This is laudable, says Stuyfzand.
‘The longer you remove a person from their
social environment, the more negative the
effect on their healing.’ The question, then,
is where, with whom and how will we get
well? Besides the individual care provided
by visiting nurses and recovery centres,
organizational options that fast-track recov-
ery include the creation of an online profile
and the submission of external laboratory
data, such as blood and urine analyses, made
at the request of the hospital. Another recent
position is that of the case manager, a con-
sultant who is involved with a patient’s care
from the moment of intake and who acts as
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