Hand Hygiene Project
by Health Design Lab
Graduation year: 2015
In partnership with Vancouver Coastal Health, Emily Carr’s Health Design Lab launched the Hand Hygiene project. This collaboration aimed to stimulate a behaviour change in the usage of hand-sanitizer dispensers and embed them as an integral part of daily life in the hospital.
Using human-centred participatory methodologies, design research for this project involved co-creation workshops with health care personnel which fostered an empathic design solution. The designers, led by faculty Jonathan Aitken, were able to gain core insights into the cause of low hand hygiene compliance. The results varied widely. In the end, VCH selected two projects for implementation, one print based and one interactive. Prototypes are currently installed at Vancouver General Hospital. The first includes humour as a core part of its message and such unusual (for a hospital) outcomes as elevator wraps. The second builds on the idea of interaction by adding a graphic “hand” to a screen accompanied by a humorous “blooping” sound. The hand accumulate throughout the day as many users engage with the dispenser.