The UX of a Hospital Ward
At the weekend I spent a fraught eight hours in A&E with my toddler and while I was there I noticed a sign on the bins that said silenced for your recovery. Obviously I had to try it out to make sure they really were silent (they were) and I had a sudden flashback to spending three nights in hospital after giving birth where I was nearly driven mad by the bins on the ward.
Anyone who has spent any time in hospital may have noticed that there are usually two bins, one for medical waste and one for general trash. They are operated by a foot pedal to push them open but, without a lever to close them slowly, they slam shut with an incredible crash. On a ward these bins are in constant use.
Now, usually, when you’re stuck on a ward it means you’re not well (or you’re staying with a small human who isn’t well) and any sleep you get is often a dreary half doze. Wards are never going to be completely quiet but when you’re struggling for rest, the absolute last thing you need is the banging of metal on metal every few minutes jolting you awake. It can severely impact your wellbeing and for me, it got to the point where I was anticipating the noise and would tense up just waiting for it. A tortuous experience after going through an intense physical and mental ordeal.
After seeing that sign at the weekend I did a bit of googling to try and find more information and came across this article about hospitals in Wales — it’s pretty old but the key point for me was that these changes were implemented after patient feedback and subsequent research:
During a fundamentals of care audit on the unit and feedback from patients, one of the main complaints was the noise from bins being slammed shut.
Staff decided to investigate further and carried out recordings of sound levels on the unit.
The results showed that bin lids slamming caused the loudest spikes of sound and exceeded recommended World Health Organisation noise levels for hospital wards.
The noise from the bins was louder than telephones ringing, monitor alarms or staff talking between beds.
Sarah Brown, Programme and Service Modernisation Manager, said: “It’s incredible to think that just changing to silent closing bins has had such an impact on the patient experience.”
At first glance it may seem silly to attribute the way a bin closes to someone’s comfort or recovery, but small changes like this can make a huge difference to a patient’s hospital experience and highlights the importance of regularly talking to users.
