"Reimagining Care through Evidence: Design Research, Patient Centered Solutions, and a Culture of Care for Healthy Societies" outlines a session at the Design Research Society 2024 Conference, exploring  patient-centered evidence-based design in healthcare as a model of recovery, resistance, reflection, and reimagination. We were particularly interested in works of practice, scholarship, and research that put patients at the center of their care. Central to this session were practices that invoke a culture of care and health for patients and caregivers. Culture of care is a form of reimagination that calls on all actions to put care at their center for those in need. Over the past 40 years in healthcare, as buildings, products, and services and the roles they play in our lives and the environment have become more intricate, our focus as designers has shifted to a deeply research-oriented practice. Due to the complexity of design practice, especially in the healthcare space, these human-centered and patient-centered approaches to design are increasingly necessary and are often called Design Research. Much work is underway to undertake physical, virtual, and augmented reality simulations to study spaces, services, and products before they are built, and this session explored these practices and others that put patients at the center of their care and prioritize a culture of care.

Citation:

Nicholas, D.S., Afzali, M., Aksamija, A., Coleman, N., Mazzi, A., Sanders, E., and Oygur Ilhan, I., (2024). "Reimagining Care through Evidence: Design Research, Patient Centered Solutions, and a Culture of Care for Healthy Societies", Proceedings of the Design Research Society 2024 Conference, Boston, MA, June 23-28.