Sibley Innovation Hub

A healthcare innovation service design and consultancy team that was embedded literally within the Sibley Memorial Hospital, as part of the Johns Hopkins medical system.

What did I do here? ✎

As a member of the Sibley Innovation Hub, I supported rapidly-moving projects with tight timelines meant to showcase rapid success with the research methods and service designs we deployed.
At the same time, I was also an employee of the Sibley Memorial Hospital! This special designation allowed me access to many sectors and facilities within the hospital itself, from the emergency room to the cancer ward.
During my time, I got to meet and collaborate with many stakeholders within the hospital to help improve their processes, create new visualizations, and support their research -- all with the goal of improving health outcomes for practitioners and patients alike.

The Welcome Brochure

My role: Service design intern

My team:
- 1 Designer (myself! 🙂)
- 1 Project Manager
Timeframe: 3 months
Tools: InDesign, Gsuite, paper sketching

Connecting new cancer patients with their care team via a paper-based brochure for a more pleasant & comforting hospital onboarding experience.

The Welcome Brochure: Project specifics by-the-book 📖

I started with the nurse team: The nurse leaders noted, specifically, that new cancer patients are especially confused with a whirlwind of information and new faces, and lonely during the down times of receiving medicine.

I got to ask questions like:

“How do we help new Cancer Center patients connect with their care team and keep track of them?”
“What can we do to lighten this learning process and possibly make it more delightful?”
"How might we improve the overall patient experience in the Cancer Center, especially during times of intense loneliness?”

I began by creating and iterating on one of the leading concepts after discussions with my manager, which was a brochure-type infographic that was to have 'baseball card'-like pieces of paper nestled within. The idea was to have each card display both professional and fun facts of an individual staff member at the infusion center.

The designs were quickly pushed to a digital format in order to get the project to a higher level of fidelity. In this way, patients wouldn't have to use too much of their imagination to see the eventual product as much as hold a working, viable prototype.

Over the course of several weeks, I made the trip to the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center with a couple of these prototypes to conduct evaluative interviews with a few patients at a time.

I was also able to interview staff members for both official and fun facts, and snap some photos.

After a few iterations, the designs were at a level of consistency where my manager and I felt comfortable bringing them into the real world. Within a few days, I printed, cut, taped, and folded 10 brochures outfitted each with 10 baseball cards. Armed with these rough-and-ready prototypes, we were ready to bring them to actual patients in the hospital.

We received positive - but also negative! - feedback. For example, one patient handed back the brochure immediately because the baseball cards "kept flying out".
As my internship with the Sibley Innovation Hub ended, we charted the next steps of this project. Since the results of the interviews strongly indicated that the product had the potential to add value and enrich patients' lives, the project had been tapped to be potentially expanded hospital-wide.

The Welcome Brochure: project quotes 💬

"This would help me spark conversations! I think it would help make my time here less terrifying."

Patient, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center

"This brings a human touch to our work. Thank you for putting the human first."

Program Manager, Sibley Innovation Hub

I'd love to hear from you!

Dylan S Smith 2024

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