From: User-centred participatory design of visual cues for isolation precautions
Functional requirements (what the system should do) | |
Information dissemination | • Draw the attention of anyone entering the room that special precautions must be taken. • Inform any person entering the patient room what isolation status that patient has. • Inform any person entering the patient room about the isolation precautions they must employ according to the patient’s isolation status. ▪ Inform healthcare personnel about required personal protective equipment. ▪ Inform cleaning staff about required protective equipment, adapted disinfectants, and prioritised cleaning measures. ▪ Inform visitors about required personal protective equipment, or instruct them to see a staff member. • Inform any person entering the room about the order in which precautions (e.g. donning and doffing personal protective equipment, hand hygiene) should be performed. • Inform anyone transporting the patient about the transmission-based precautions that should be respected. • In addition to the three main categories of transmission-based precautions (contact, droplet, and airborne), signage should also be designed to communicate combined or “light” isolation precautions specific to the USZ. |
USZ guidelines | • Be consistent with USZ guidelines for isolation precautions. The three main isolation categories include: ▪ Contact isolation: don gown ▪ Droplet isolation: don surgical mask ▪ Airborne isolation: don FFP2 mask • Communicate combined isolation precautions: ▪ Contact + Droplet isolation: don gown and surgical mask ▪ Contact + Airborne isolation: don gown and FFP2 mask |
Non-functional requirements (constraints on the system and its development) | |
Maintenance restraints | • Must be easy to hang and remove on an as-need basis. • If printed on paper, must either be laminate so that it may be cleaned and reused, or single use. |
Accessibility and confidentiality requirements | • Should include graphics and symbols to accommodate non-native German speaking personnel. • Signage should avoid potential patient stigmatisation and should not disclose any confidential patient information. • Signage must be accessible to individuals with colour vision deficiency, for example by avoiding problematic colour combinations and employing both colours and symbols to convey messages over multiple channels. |
Physical environment requirements | • Signage must be noticeable relative to other signs in the healthcare setting (appropriate single-to-noise ratio). • Some indication of the patient’s isolation status should travel with the patient at all times so that the appropriate transmission-based precautions can be communicated at all times (e.g. when the patient is outside of the room where the sign is posted) – this could be attached to the patient herself or to the patient’s bed. • Signage for housekeeping personnel should be of a portable size (A4 or smaller) so that it can fit on the cleaning trolleys. |
Organisational environment requirements | • The signage should be able to quickly communicate the required actions, so that healthcare providers do not need to slow down (‘break the rhythm’) to interpret them. • If sign will be paper-based, it should be easily accessible to staff on the ward when an isolated patient arrives (e.g. printed copies from intranet) or purchasable. • Any posted signs must be consistent with the Corporate Design Guidelines. • Information communicated through signage must be consistent with evidence based-guidelines, such as the CDC 2007 guidance, as well as institutional infection control guidelines. |
Technical environment requirements | • Colour printer must be available if units are to print their own copies of paper-based signage. • Intranet connection must be available if units are to download the signs. • Staff must be able to post the signage either by using an adhesive material, or the signs may be printed directly onto an adhesive sheet. • Handling of signage material should be cost-effective and practical in every-day use. • It should be possible to update the signage system easily in case new hospital rules/guidelines are introduced. |