Bringing the University to the Hospital: QUT Design Internships at the Queensland Children’s Hospital Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)

Abstract

This chapter is the second of three chapters in this book that discuss the HEAL project’s work with the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at the Queensland Children’s Hospital in 2021. This chapter describes the activities of a group of undergraduate students undertaking an industry placement, known as Work Integrated Learning (WIL), to support the design artefacts that needed to be created, including those for the PICU Marketplace data gathering. The project also evaluated whether the students who took part in this industry placement project had expanded their professional identity to consider working as a designer in healthcare as a potential future career aspiration.

This study explores two phases of a Work Integrated Learning (WIL) Industry Partnership program, which was facilitated through a Tier 2 Research Centre project at the QUT Design Lab. The WIL Partnership program exposed QUT undergraduate design students to a healthcare setting and gave them the chance to collaborate with QUT researchers and healthcare professionals at the Queensland Children’s Hospital Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in Brisbane, Australia as part of the HEAL PICU Partnership Project. The QCH PICU Partnership Project started in November 2020 conducting family and staff engagement and storytelling to guide the future development of visual communication, wayfinding, and interior design solutions. The project’s goal is to offer family-centred care by allowing families to be fully involved in their child’s hospital care, and work as equals with staff to achieve the best results for the child, family, and hospital [1].

This research explores the impact of participating in a practical healthcare project on the self-perceptions of undergraduate design students. The objective is to gain insights into how this experience shapes their developing professional identity, sense of self-efficacy, and understanding of themselves as designers. By working in collaboration with researchers and industry partners on a real-world healthcare project, the study seeks to evaluate if this environment has any influence on the students’ career aspirations and employment intentions.

The results of this study provide valuable information for educational institutions and industry partners. By understanding the impact of real-world healthcare projects on students’ professional development, educators can make informed decisions about the type of project-based learning experiences they offer to their students. For industry partners, this research can shed light on the benefits of collaborating with educational institutions and provide insights into how to design meaningful and impactful partnerships.

Overall, this research contributes to a better understanding of how real-world healthcare projects can support the professional development of undergraduate design students and inform the design of future project-based learning experiences in this field.

1 Problem

It is common for many design programs to focus on studio-based learning and design projects, rather than hands-on experience in real-world settings. This can limit the exposure of design students to different environments and industries, including healthcare [2].

Design students rarely have the opportunity to work in a hospital setting as part of their education. Hospitals are complex and highly regulated environments, and there are often strict rules and procedures in place that must be followed. As a result, it can be challenging for design students to gain access to these environments and to conduct research or complete design projects within them.

Despite these challenges, there are some programs and initiatives that aim to provide design students with the opportunity to work in a hospital setting. These programs often involve partnerships between universities and healthcare organisations, where students are able to work on design projects that address real-world challenges in a hospital environment.

2 Process

2.1 Phase 1—Visual Communication and Interactive Design Materials for the Co-design of a More Therapeutic Environment for PICU Families and Staff

The way that information is communicated to parents about the PICU environment and its rules is widely recognised as having a significant impact on the culture within the PICU and the relationships between health care professionals and families. Research by Butler, Copnell, and Hall [3] highlights the importance of carefully considering the language used in these communications.

In addition to the environment and rules, PICU staff recognise that parents and families need access to a range of information, including details about their child’s current condition and post-discharge care. Laudato et al. [4] stress the importance of providing this information through various sources and mechanisms, given the diverse needs of families.

Consistent and effective communication with stakeholders, clinicians, and the public is also crucial in creating and maintaining the desired culture in the PICU. This includes ensuring that the language used in these communications aligns with the goals and values of the PICU.

During the first semester of 2021, seven students from the Bachelor of Design (Visual Communication) and Bachelor of Creative Industries (Interactive and Visual Design) were selected to participate in the PICU Partnership Project team. They chose to complete a Work Integrated Learning project to help create visual communication and interactive design materials for the co-design of a more therapeutic environment for PICU families and staff. This involved working on parent/staff engagement and storytelling activities to inform a proposal for interior design and wayfinding. The proposal aimed to reimagine key shared spaces and develop long-term communication strategies for PICU families and post-discharge. Supervised by Dr. Anastasia Tyurina from the QUT Design Lab, students worked closely with Jane Harnischfeger (Nurse Educator, Paediatric Intensive Care, Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service) and Matthew Douglas (Digital Engagement Manager, Communications and Engagement Unit, Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service).

As per the guidelines of the Engagement Strategies brief given by the PICU Partnership Project Team, the students created visual and interactive elements for the engagement activity materials. This included online materials, posters, and flyers to promote the PICU Marketplace, materials for the PICU Marketplace itself, as well as data visualisations and infographics.

By using student-designed materials, the PICU Partnership Project team has been able to be flexible in an uncertain and unstable situation of developing requirements and shifting accessibility, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The undergraduate design students have been informed by the data gathered by researchers and have been involved in all stages of the design material development. The students have been able to engage with teaching and research staff from the university, as well as staff from the hospital to help the broader HEAL team with their engagement resources and the presentations of analysis (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1

Students creating materials for Marketplace and distributing them during the visit at PICU QCH

Once the data analysis was finished, the students had the chance to come up with design solutions for unfamiliar context. They did this by collecting data from primary sources and considering feedback from both parents and PICU staff about engagement strategies. The students also identified challenges and opportunities for design within the PICU, and played a role in shaping the design briefs for wayfinding, signage, and visual communication. Finally, the students created designs that were based on their own research, which could be implemented in the PICU environment (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2

Infographic visualising data gathered in a dot survey by Josh Hayes (left), and Infographic visualising data gathered in Affirmation Puzzles and Awareness Chain activities by Claire Tan, Sylvia Wong, and Kelly-Anne Kirk

Students developed design solutions such as an AR comic, design concept for MYQCH App, proposal for refurbishing the PICU library space, Parent Journal, and interactive screen content. Some of them are shown below. Students have also provided their project statements and reflections.

“During our time there in the PICU, we noticed there were little to no kids’ interactive pieces that would keep them occupied, the only area that kids are able to run around is the balcony, providing if there is no bad weather. With that in mind, our idea is to create an AR comic strip to portray real-life success stories in the PICU. Our targeted audiences are the kids and parents/family members”—students Claire Tan and Sylvia Wong say (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3

AR Comic by Claire Tan and Sylvia Wong (top), MYQCH App Proposal by Caitlyn Bradford & Joshua Hayes (middle), Proposal for refurbishing the PICU library space by Niharika Shah (bottom)

Joshua Hayes and Caitlyn Bradford [5] state that “Our prototype has been designed to form as an extension for the My QCH app. It has been specifically designed for the families and parents of the QCH PICU ward. It aims at increasing the communication. The main goal of the app is to foster the sense of community and create a safe space for families to retain also provide information. We believe that providing a digital, alternative revenue of communication it will increase the support for families and provide piece of mind while being at PICU to make their experience more pleasant.”

Niharika Shah proposes a concept of refurbishing the PICU library space to create a comfortable environment for siblings, kids, and their parents to spend some time away from their mundane routines in their own rooms. “The library would be an ‘after hours’ library which can be used to sit and relax. A Vinyl or PhotoTex sticker could be used to paste an illustration at the back of the shelving to give it more depth and texture. By doing so, the space would already be transformed into something new. To add to this, there would be an interactive element to the library space wherein the kids at PICU would be able to paste a glow in the dark butterfly or bug or animal or some sort to the wall that could illuminate in the dark. This could be made out of Luminous, which is a paper that is glow-in-the-dark and would be perfect for this purpose. The cave depicts the low times that every parent and child is going through at PICU whereas the glow-in-dark element looks at the light at the end of the darkness. This metaphor can act as a ray of hope and can also make some times at PICU enjoyable,” Niharika says.

2.2 Phase 2—Extending the PICU Partnership into Virtual Reality

In an extension to the initial WIL student project, a new group of Bachelor of Design (Interior Architecture and Interactive Design) students were invited to participate in the visualisation of the PICU Partnership project. Six students were involved, two from interactive design and four from interior architecture. This project was established to turn the concepts created by Leighann Ness Wilson as part of the PICU Partnership Project (Ness Wilson, 2024, Chapter 20 “NICU Mum to PICU Researcher: A Reflection on Place, People, and the Power of Shared Experience” of this book) into virtual reality.

Supervised by Leighann Ness Wilson and Dr. Anastasia Tyurina from the QUT Design Lab, students worked closely with Jane Harnischfeger, Nurse Educator, Paediatric Intensive Care, Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service.

Over a series of design-studio sessions, Leighann and Anastasia worked collaboratively with design students developing concepts, sharing ideas, and providing feedback and mentorship. The design-studio sessions enabled students to experience an authentic design brief and project, engage in design dialogue and creative problem solving, and receive formative feedback throughout the development of the design solutions [6, 7]. Students were also invited to a project pitch late in the PICU Partnership project to see the scope and nature of the project, and were given a tour of the PICU facility early in the process.

The four interior design students selected a specific spatial zone to concentrate on, developing concept plans, creating three-dimensional computer models and developing concept boards with images of colour, finishes, furnishings and fittings. The students reflected on their own theoretical understanding of colour and user-experience from their undergraduate study and combined this with specific research around family-centred care and design in healthcare that was often the focus of design-dialogue in the studio sessions.

To further the WIL student experience, we constructed the student team using a multidisciplinary approach, frequently seen in industry [8]. The interior design students created three-dimensional models of the foyer spaces within PICU before liaising with the interactive design students, who took these models into specific software that enabled virtual reality.

In mid-November 2021, the team from QUT was ready to present back to the staff and families of PICU. Basing the engagement on the successful model of the PICU Market Place (discussed in Ness Wilson, 2023, Chapter 20 “NICU Mum to PICU Researcher: A Reflection on Place, People, and the Power of Shared Experience” of this book), this instalment comprised large, printed posters created to communicate the design of the PICU entry foyer. The concept boards and 3D visualisations were printed onto large format posters and displayed in the foyer space itself. To the side, a dedicated laptop and VR equipment was set up with seating for participants. In total 15 participants experienced the virtual reality tour, guided by Hannah, a QUT student who talked them through the spaces, providing reassurance and commentary to limit the confusion and disorientation sometimes experienced in virtual reality.

Participants and visitors to the two days of VR PICU Marketplace were invited to provide feedback on their experience. Question framing was developed by Leighann Ness Wilson, in conjunction with the students who facilitated the data collection process. Questions focused on specific feedback to design concepts and to the virtual reality experience itself. This data can be incorporated into future pitching to QCH Foundation to potentially fund its construction. Students prepared a formal record of the project through video and photography, which was included for presentation in the second Market Place (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4

3D visualisations of design concepts and a VR model presented to PICU clinicians and parents during PICU Market Place

3 Evaluation of Outcomes for Student Interns

The research team conducted an online survey with the QUT undergraduate students after they have finalised their internships.

Survey Questions asked about professional identity development, enjoyment, learning, and future possibilities (research and employment-related). Specific questions are included in Appendix at the end of this chapter.

Of the five (5) respondents to the survey, four were female and one was male. They enjoyed the final design, working on a real-world project—“the opportunity to work on something that could possibly be utilized down the road”, creative freedom, interactions with staff and families, working in a team, and learning different ways to use design thinking. Things they didn’t enjoy ranged from “Nothing” to delays in feedback and having to work from home rather than in the hospital or with the design team (due to Covid-19 restrictions), and the slow and erratic pace of the work—“it felt like a bit of a design experiment of which we only played just a small part”.

In terms of future employment, three respondents could definitely see themselves working as designers in healthcare, while the other two might, but it would not be their first choice. As for learnings from the unit, the respondents valued the teamwork, the design tools they used (Figma and Adobe Illustrator were mentioned specifically), and having a real-world experience—“I really felt that I learned a lot through interacting with staff and family members during the workshop”. Table 1 shows the main things respondents learned from teaming with hospital staff, which broadly fall into design thinking (including skills of empathy and communication), employability skills (such as the technologies used and the ability to design for actual clients), and site-based knowledge of how designers could work in healthcare.

Table 1 Three main things learned from teaming with hospital staff on the project

All agreed that the benefits to the community were in giving the PICU community a voice. There was also consistency in the insights they gained from working with hospital staff—first-hand experience of hospital bureaucracy and style guides, and the opportunities to showcase their own abilities.

All of the respondents could see the link between the project and research—one student commented “design proposals … had to be informed by … data”, while another valued that “the research conducted before and during this project allowed us to create more specifically-targeted solutions to ensure the user was being well considered in the designs”. They also increased their understandings of research, including that research takes time and effort prior to designing—“research is accumulative, and not something that is instantly gained after doing one quick survey of the environment”, and that presentations and visualisations of the data gathered are important parts of the design process. Finally, empathy was also raised as an important cross-over design/research skill—“co-designing allows the parties to be in each other’s shoes and experience what they are going through”.

Empathy was also suggested as a possible benefit of partnering similar projects in the future with medical students, as that would give both groups understandings of each other’s perspectives and knowledge, and allow the development of better multidisciplinary design solutions “that are more effective and targeted to the issues”.

The QUT undergraduate students involved in the Phase 1 of the project were: Caitlyn Bradford, Niharika Shah, Kelly-Anne Kirk, Joshua Hayes, Claire Tan, Naomi Jang, and Sylvia Wong. The QUT undergraduate students involved in the Phase 2 of the project were: Kealey Geddy, Nicolas Loh, Hannah Torrisi, Danielle Greer, Reegan Johnston, and Kirsteen James.

4 Outcomes

By using a variety of storytelling and engagement techniques, gathering important feedback from consumers, and fostering collaboration between clinicians and designers, the PICU Partnership project has laid the foundation for a thrilling new chapter in the design of PICU, aimed at enhancing the experience for families with a critically ill child.

One of the key benefits of student involvement in research activities is that it provides hands-on learning opportunities. Instead of simply reading about design processes and theories in a textbook, students can apply what they have learned in real-world situations. This makes the learning experience more engaging and memorable, as students are able to see the tangible results of their efforts. As a result, students are more likely to retain what they have learned and apply it in their future careers.

Working in small groups during research activities also encourages students to develop their critical thinking skills. By collaborating with their peers and sharing ideas, students can see problems from different angles and come up with innovative solutions. This is an important skill for designers, as it allows them to approach design tasks with a fresh perspective and find creative solutions to complex problems. As students work together in small groups, they also learn the importance of teamwork and the value of each individual’s contribution to the overall success of a project.

In addition to the academic benefits, student participation in research activities also helps to develop their professional skills. By working with clients and stakeholders, students gain real-world experience in communicating their ideas and presenting their work. This not only helps to improve their communication skills, but also their confidence, as they become more comfortable in professional settings. As they present their work to clients and stakeholders, students also learn the importance of being able to articulate their ideas effectively, a skill that is essential in any design career. Overall, student participation in research activities provides a well-rounded learning experience that prepares students for success in their future careers.

Design students who work in a hospital setting often develop a strong sense of social responsibility, as they are exposed to real-world challenges and the impact their designs can have on people’s lives. Through their work in a hospital, they see first-hand the importance of design in improving patient outcomes and creating a more positive healthcare experience. This experience creates in them a sense of purpose and a desire to use their skills for the greater good.

Working in a hospital setting also provides students with an opportunity to learn about the unique needs of patients and healthcare professionals, and to design solutions that meet those needs. Through their work, they learn about the unique needs of patients and healthcare professionals, form close connections with members of the community, and gain a deeper understanding of the importance of empathy and the role of design in creating positive change.

Students had an opportunity to reflect on their own professional pathways and developing professional identity, to make meaning of themselves as designers in a real-world setting. The project has enabled the students to see design as a driver for positive impact and change, and to change the paradigm of design for change through application of skills they have learned.

5 Future Development of the Project

The HEAL team anticipates that this project will serve as a prototype for future university research initiatives that engage undergraduate students. By connecting the students to both academics and Higher Degree Research (HDR) students from the QUT Design Lab, and with actual hospital practitioners and support staff, the project has elevated HEAL into a multi-dimensional knowledge creation experience across the university, bridging the gap between the university and the hospital through a design-driven healthcare framework.

The collaboration between design students and medical personnel through the HEAL project is seen as a promising step towards fostering more partnerships between the two fields in the future. The hope is that this project will lay the foundation for further collaboration between design students and medical personnel, providing opportunities for both groups to work together on design projects that address real-world healthcare challenges. This will help to bring together the unique perspectives and skill sets of each group, allowing for the creation of innovative solutions to complex healthcare problems [9].

It is also possible that the collaboration could extend to medical students as well. Medical students are often interested in the design of healthcare facilities and equipment, and they could benefit from working alongside design students on projects that explore these topics. This collaboration would provide medical students with valuable design experience, and it would allow design students to gain a deeper understanding of the medical field and the unique needs of patients and healthcare professionals.

By working together, design students and medical personnel can learn from each other and build bridges between the fields of design and healthcare. This will lead to the creation of more innovative and effective healthcare solutions, and it will help to prepare the next generation of designers and medical professionals for careers in these fields.

6 Conclusion

The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is taking its Work Integrated Learning (WIL) program for design students to the next level through industry partnerships and research in the healthcare sector. Queensland Health, a government authority, is playing a vital role in this partnership, which will help QUT’s design students be equipped to work in transdisciplinary ways that align with both government and university priorities, especially in a post-Covid-19 world.

The success of this model opens the door for its potential rollout in other QUT Design Lab projects in the healthcare sector in 2022 and beyond. Hence, conducting research and evaluation is crucial to ensure it meets the personal, professional, and developmental needs of the students.

Undergraduate design students have gained valuable hands-on experience through stakeholder engagement, including client interviews and delivering workshops, which inform the design process. They have discovered the importance of first-hand information from stakeholders in the co-design process and have learned about the culture and processes involved in being a designer.

This research highlights the positive impact of real-world WIL projects, which aligns with QUT’s Blueprint 6 to “ensure all students experience practical and relevant learning and assessment” and “pursue partnerships with industry and engagement with the community to enable courses to draw upon current real-world practice and innovation”, thereby supporting QUT’s Real World Learning Vision and the QUT Design Lab’s aim for the HEAL projects to transform healthcare.

Appendix—Evaluation Survey Questions

• 1. What is your major in the Bachelor of Design?

• 2. What is your gender identification?

• 3. What aspects of this project did you enjoy, and why?

• 4. What aspects of this project did you not enjoy, and why?

• 5. What activities contributed most to your learning in this unit and across this project, and why?

• 6. Can you see yourself working in healthcare design when you graduate?

• 7. What have been benefits to the community?

• 8. How did the staff at the hospital give you insight into what’s required in a professional/healthcare project?

• 9. What are the three (3) main things you’ve learned/gained from teaming with medical staff on this project?

• 10. Do you see a link between the project and research? If yes, what?

• 11. How did this project further your understandings of research (e.g., co-design)?

• 12. What benefits do you think there would be to work in small groups with medical students in this WIL program?