Fifteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

Universal healthcare systems are built on the idea that access to health services is a fundamental human right. The National Health Service’s (NHS) mission to provide nationwide public health services free at the point of care emerged as a core value in the rebuilding of post-war Great Britain. Realising such a mandate is a task that requires the mobilisation and participation of several sectors of civil society and professional groups. However, the role played, and the contributions offered by designers to the development of the NHS have historically remained at the margins of the structural changes the system underwent since its creation. Firstly, mainstream design practice has been widely perceived as an activity with limited contributions, often associated with the functionality of products, and, more recently, with the use of digital interfaces. Secondly, designers have been ineffective in articulating the array of contributions and benefits they could bring to help improving healthcare provision and service outcomes. Furthermore, at least until recently, the possibility that design and designers can have an important part to play in conversations and actions related to the improvement of processes and practices; and, ultimately, to the shaping and enactment of health-related policies, remains underexplored. Drawing from examples of the Re-envisaging Infection Practice Ecologies in Nursing project, this paper presents an empirical account of a design-focused approach to facilitating reflection and action around the roles and responsibilities of nursing staff as protagonists of practice and policy innovation when tackling antimicrobial resistance – a major global threat.