Healthy Design

American Public Media’s Caitlan Carroll for Marketplace examined the efforts of one hospital in San Diego to “improve health by design”.  As the story goes, Sharp Memorial Hospital is taking a new approach to keep their patients healthy and shorten hospital stays by utilizing innovative architectural, interior and process design.  Implementing design elements one might expect in a 5-star hotel in hospital waiting rooms or practical details like laundry hampers in patient rooms improve everything from employee workflow to a patient’s state of mind.  The hospital expects real results in patient recovery time, employee morale and, yes, even their bottom line.

Read Carroll’s complete story here.

So who wouldn’t benefit from this emphasis on healthy design?  We tend to take the everyday design elements around us for granted.  But if better design works to improve our well-being and productivity, isn’t it time we all reexamine the spaces in which we live and work?

That rationale should apply to our virtual environments as well.  According to Mashable.com, the average person spends 68 hours online every month.  What if all that time was spent in frictionless virtual endeavors.  All our searching would result in meaningful findings (bing anyone?).  All our tasks would culminate in productive exchanges. We can derive a list of best design practices from the flood of analytics and metrics available.  So how is it so many websites make it difficult for internet users to purchase/participate/donate/volunteer?

By promoting good design online, we can create healthier and more productive online communities/users/consumers… and, as a result, healthier online businesses.   Here’s to a new Design Revolution!

The Birds and the Bees Can’t Always “Make it Happen”

Finally!  A healthcare advertising message that is funny!  This campaign is brilliant.  Instead of taking itself too seriously, EMD Serono, the manufacturer of fertility drug Gonal-f, has launched a viral campaign that takes a serious medical condition and takes the taboo out of it a bit.  The videos, currently only on the web, are hilarious and are relatable, even for those of us who have not experienced infertility.  What couple hasn’t given two very different versions of the same reality they’ve both shared, as these two have in the video called, “A year and a half”?

The videos sends viewers to the website www.increaseyourchances.org, where they can click through and learn more about why 1 out of 8 couples have trouble conceiving.  No sterile images of a hospital where all your fertility procedures make your baby-making dreams come true.  No images of the previously-troubled couple at last walking off into the sunset, mom-to-be gently rubbing her baby bump.

These videos are at once effective and funny.  And brilliant.  My only suggestion is to get these on TV pronto.  These are too good not to share with the masses.

Facebook Accidentally Lifts & Supports Cancer Group Memberships

I don’t know how I missed it, but I was apparently in the minority.  A few months ago someone on Facebook started a movement with one simple message, asking women to post their bra color on their status.  The request took hold and as it spread across the globe, the wording changed slightly and as it began to gain full momentum, changed enough to give false credit to several cancer groups.  See more on this in this post by Sarah Brown for examiner.com.  Or at Snopes.com.

Does social media work?  The end result of this little game for the Susan G. Komen Facebook group was an increase in followers by more than 950% in less than a week!!  Although this particular movement blossomed from what began as a simple, “let’s see if we can get people to do this,” then morphed into what some deem a scam, the outcome was a needed boost for one of the highest-profile charitable organizations in the country.

The lesson:  YES.  Social media works.  YES.  Social media can be used to benefit the healthcare industry.  And YES.  There are some beautiful bra colors out there.

SXSH: 10 Ways For Healthcare O…

SXSH: 10 Ways For Healthcare Organizations To Build Trust http://ow.ly/1mSWS