︎ Chair, Clinic, and the Classroom
The school nurse’s office is the first place where many students feeling ill go to receive medical attention. Instead of this place being a middleman in the step to seeing a real doctor, what if our primary care health system was rooted within schools? Care from the first point of contact can aid in the timely diagnoses of patients, help lower the spread of illnesses, and shorten recovery times.
By Blaise Gimber ︎ , Andrew Hoover ︎
[Our project lies on the product stage of the design continuum, existing in a school environment]
Why
Primary care clinics can be a child’s worst nightmare. We seek to remove the fear and necessity of visiting the doctor’s office by making access to care more convenient and comfortable.
[Tommy Boy Persona]
How
We are bringing care to children directly at their school by boosting the capabilities of current nurse’s offices, making them somewhere students can feel safe, looked after, and comfortable while being diagnosed.
[School Nurses must play a larger role]
What
An at-school clinic that possesses the ability to diagnose students and provide care at the first point of contact through the use of a welcoming and comfortable check-in-chair environment.
[Interior Perspective of a child-catered “Check-In-Chair”]
So What
Create a more efficient and engaging check-in experience that creates more accurate vital tracking and a more pleasurable waiting experience. Care is achieved from the first point of contact at a location one goes to every day.
Design To Outcomes
In our nation access to care is an important issue. Statistics show “as many as 25% of Americans do not have a primary care provider.” In addition, “In 2020, 4.3 million children under the age of 19 — 5.6% of all children — were without health coverage for the entire calendar year.” The importance of universal access to care as well as having a established primary care doctor can not be understated. Primary care physicians serve as the first point of care, keep detailed medical records, monitor and treat chronic health conditions over time, as well as provide referrals if you need advanced care from a specialist. Through the help of C-cubed, we aim to solve all issues of accessibility to care as schools are the most frequented establishment in a child’s day-to-day life and abundant in every community.
C-cubed would carry a full staff of knowledgeable physicians, integrated check-in chairs with diagnostic capabilities, and comprehensive exam/consultation spaces. Every child within the school community would have not only convenient access to care, but also consistent access to care throughout their adolescent years.
Ultimately through the help of C-cubed, we aim to skip the steps of patients “Reaching out”, “Making an appointment”, and “Visit” by going immediately from “Feeling sick” to “Diagnostic” and “Check out”.
[Steps of the Health Continuum]
Links to Follow:
︎︎︎Two Page Report
︎︎︎Miro Board
︎
Works Cited
“A Successful Public Health Experiment: School - ProQuest.” 2006. Www.proquest.com. May 23, 2006. https://www.proquest.com/docview/199456931?fromopenview=true&pq-origsite=gscholar&parentSessionId=%2B9sc5eJjJhOzIkh2jjvRpv4UKsHTGjPciSXzufL4Xoo%3D.
Bureau, US Census. 2021. “Uninsured Rates for Children in Poverty Increased 2018–2020.” The United States Census Bureau. September 14, 2021. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/09/uninsured-rates-for-children-in-poverty-increased-2018-2020.html.
CDC. 2021. “Recognizing School Nurses.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. April 27, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/features/school_nurse.htm.
medgadget. 2014. “EarlySense Chair Sensor Monitors Vitals through the Butt | Medgadget.” Https://Www.medgadget.com/. July 7, 2014. https://www.medgadget.com/2014/07/earlysense-chair-sensor-monitors-vitals-through-the-butt.html.
Nakhleh, Morad K., Haitham Amal, Raneen Jeries, Yoav Y. Broza, Manal Aboud, Alaa Gharra, Hodaya Ivgi, et al. 2016. “Diagnosis and Classification of 17 Diseases from 1404 Subjects via Pattern Analysis of Exhaled Molecules.” ACS Nano 11 (1): 112–25. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.6b04930.
Stergiou, George S., Nikolaos J. Yiannes, Vayia C. Rarra, and Christina V. Alamara. 2005. “White-Coat Hypertension and Masked Hypertension in Children.” Blood Pressure Monitoring 10 (6): 297–300. https://doi.org/10.1097/00126097-200512000-00002.
“Trends in Suicidal Ideation-Related Emergency Department Visits for Youth in Illinois: 2016–2021.” 2022. Aap.org. 2022. https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/150/6/e2022056793/189943/Trends-in-Suicidal-Ideation-Related-Emergency.
“Why You Need a Primary Care Physician.” n.d. Www.fhcp.com. https://www.fhcp.com/fhcp-news/2021/october/why-you-need-a-primary-care-physician/#:~:text=Statistics%20show%20as%20many%20as.