Family Commons
The Family Commons at St. Jude Children’s Research hospital is a dedicated space for patients and families to seek respite and community in a non-clinical environment on campus. Although from a healthcare industry perspective St. Jude is very progressive and patient-centered, the leaders still felt there was an opportunity to do something different and engaged IDEO to design ways to enhance the patient and caregiver experience during non-clinical care moments.
The Family Commons is slated to open in Fall 2022.
Design Process
Days of on-site research coalesced into four primary insights that highlighted the four roles parents/caregivers play while they accompany their child through cancer treatment. While a lot of the treatment at St. Jude focuses on the child, these insights helped St. Jude be more empathic to the needs of the parents/caregivers who are so central to supporting the patient during the period of treatment. Designing for the different roles that parents/caregivers operate in became a major organizing principle in programming the floor plan of the Family Commons.
Building to Learn
The team designed and built a high fidelity physical prototype of the various zones in order to better understand what parents and patients were ultimately seeking in such an environment. A set of booklets that read as User Guides to activating the Family Commons were the deliverables.
Personal contributions: The project was the first collaboration between St. Jude and IDEO, establishing a multi-year relationship with projects of increasing scope and significance to the organization. I led the initial client engagement strategy, project scoping, and team staffing. During the project, my prior experience in designing hospitals enabled me to build trust and rapport with our new clients. I served as a translator and connector between the IDEO team, many of whom were new to designing inside hospitals and the associated complexities, and the St. Jude team, who were admittedly uncomfortable with the ambiguity that is part of the design process. This liaising earned me the affectionate nickname, “client whisperer.”
Detail of The Huddle and Learning Corner
Design Outcomes
In late 2018, St. Jude announced its largest-ever donation. AbbVie Pharmaceuticals gave $50 million in direct support of the Family Commons. The funding will go towards construction and operation of the facility set to open in 2022. Additionally, the parent/caregiver roles were so salient to St. Jude that they have continued to use the parent/caregiver roles and insights as part of their design principles in subsequent projects.
Deliverables | Design principles; service blueprint; high fidelity on-site prototype; user guides for architecture, operations, strategy; design standards and style guide for brand and communication
Roles | Client leader, architecture and healthcare industry guide
Acknowledgements | St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital