Philips: Improving the Patient Experience

Philips Ambient Experience service offers hospitals a way to radically improve the patient experience and results that they can achieve from their CT scanning suites. The best way to understand what it is is to watch this video and this video discussing the latest addition to the service. The white paper from Philips is also a good source of information on the Ambient Experience Service.

Case study explanatory strip

Background

Philips Design designs the MRI, CAT scanners and other equipment for the Philips Healthcare division of Philips. In 2001/2 a a Strategic Design probe study in Philips Design used a Human Centered Design Thinking approach to research if design could help to create a better healthcare environment for patients who needed to undergo a CT/MRI scan. This research project was called Ambient Experience and employed the human centered ethnographic study technique called shadowing where patients were followed through the procedure of being scanned. A number of important insights were gathered from the research, namely that adults and especially children were fearful/in a state of heightened anxiety when they entered the scanning suite because they did not understand what was going to happen to them in the scanning room. Due to the nature of the scanning machines, the patient is in the room on their own with no adult/parent support to comfort them. High anxiety levels seen in patients would often require multiple scans and or high levels of sedation which would require longer recovery times after the scans taking up valuable hospital resources to monitor the patients until the sedatives had worn off.

The results of the project demonstrated with prototypes built to demonstrate the service long before any installations were built in hospitals demonstrated how Philips Design could improve the patient experience through non invasive methods such as the use of lighting, demonstrator models, video and sensitive interior design elements. In 2004 the first pilot program was installed in a hospital and in 2005 one was completed at the Advocate Lutheran General Children's Hospital in Chicago, US. This installation served as a milestone in the development of the service as it included research into the effects that the Ambient Experience had on patient results and was therefore the first proof point of just how big an improvement the hospital saw in their radiology department (see below in results).

In 2006 the project was released commercially as a full blown commercial service from Philips Healthcare that could be deployed as a suite of customizable elements into individual hospitals in the USA. By the services 10th anniversary in 2016, Philips Healthcare had installed its 1000th Ambient Experience Suite.

What is an Ambient Experience?

According to an article in Healthcare Design Magazine, every Ambient Experience project is a customized design solution based on individual institutional needs and the learning of the Philips Ambient Experience Design team from their earlier research work with patients. The solutions are guided by four overriding principles:

Comfort: create an architectural environment that contributes to the wellbeing of patients and clinical personnel
Contact: maximize interaction between medical personnel, patients, and loved ones by decreasing physical barriers
Workflow: remove disjointed, cluttered, and isolated work areas that adversely impact staff efficiency and satisfaction
Personalization: give patients a sense of control over their experience by allowing them to affect their surroundings

The team helps create this immersive, multisensory experience by using technology blocks to deliver the identified needs and values of all project stakeholders.

Chosen technology blocks are integrated into the project space. In a unifying manner, each block becomes part of the overall interior design. You may find:

an interactive, illuminated light canvas that becomes a wondrous amusement for children
a “kitten” scanner, designed to ease youngsters' concerns about their examinations
privacy glass, which switches from transparent to opaque at the push of a button in the imaging and interventional suite
a wireless touchscreen theme tablet PC, allowing patients to influence the exam room atmosphere
dynamic, projected content for positive distraction during procedures

Minimalistic lines, flush surfaces, and soothing wall colors complete the architectural envelope and tie everything together. The transformation is accomplished.

Results

The Ambient Experience project is the best documented and researched Design Thinking Healthcare Case Study. With 1400+ Ambient Experience suites installed in hospitals globally, there has been a lot of research conducted to discover what the benefits of the service are to patients.

Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, Chicago Usa.

From the earliest installations in 2004, hospitals that embrace Ambient Experience report favorable results. Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Chicago has found that sedation rates in their Ambient Experience CT suite for children aged three to seven years declined 30%, and workflow was positively impacted.

Catherina Hospital Eindhoven, Netherlands.

79% of the clinical teams prefer to do their procedures in the Ambient Experience cardiovascular suite, and 73% of patients suggest they feel more comfortable due to the relaxing design.

Florida Children's Hospital, Orlando Florida, USA.

The entire pediatric emergency department has been redesigned to provide positive distraction through selectable lighting and projections in patient waiting rooms. Other areas in the hospital are the focus of new design initiatives. Marla Sillman, senior vice-president, administrator, understands how Ambient Experience will play a significant role in defining her hospital. “This hospital will be on the forefront of technology,” she says, “and a model for patient experience that will be truly dedicated to the well-being of children.”

Children’s Hospital for Wales (UK)

A survey conducted in September 2015 by the Children’s Hospital for Wales (UK) among 116 parents/caregivers of pediatric patients (of which 47 were familiar with the former radiology department) showed the following results:

89% indicated that it was easier or a lot easier for their child to relax in the new radiology department.
72% indicated that, compared to their experience in the former radiology department, the experience of the imaging procedure was a lot better for their child.
The Net Promoter Score of the new radiology department was 78 (116 respondents).

Jeroen Bosch Ziekenhuis (Jeroen Bosch Hospital)

In 2018 the hospital expanded their Ambient Experience suites to include all of their radiography rooms.

"The decision was driven by positive feedback from both staff and patients on the hospital’s existing installations." said Daphne Engelen, Cluster Manager for Imaging Techniques at the Jeroen Bosch Hospital.

Children’s Medical Center Dallas

The Children's Medical Center in Dallas is one of the latest projects for Philips. Here they set up a room to help teens with mental health problems to find a space to relax and calm down. "

It’s a place for teenagers to experience light and welcoming environments to help soothe their minds.

“We let the child pick the theme that most appeals to them,” Burnap said. “With that comes a whole set of sounds that really immerses you.”