Moment

Personalized de-escalation system designed for psychiatric wards

RESEARCH METHODS

Generative Research | Design Thinking

REPORTED CHALLENGE

Patients in psychiatric wards, specifically schizophrenia patients, often experience violent outbursts, that threatens their and the medical crew's safety.

RESEARCH PROCESS

Desktop

search of common and new researched coping techniques

Interviews

with the professional crew in the psychiatric ward

Interviews
with 2 family members of patients and 2 professional caregivers

Observations

of the professional crew in the psychiatric ward

FINDINGS

PATIENTS' CHALLENGES

Patients often don’t fully realize or accept their diagnosis and experience grudg against the doctors.
Managing mental illness becomes their lives.

CAREGIVERS' CHALLENGES

Physical fear of being violently attacked without prior notice.
Lack the tools to diffuse the situation.
It’s very hard to reason with some patients.
You want to understand but you don’t want to incite and ramp up the feelings. Don’t become their partner in a violent discussion.

"You just need to listen and gauge the kind of treatment they are getting and lead them to resources"

Nurse E

MAIN SIGNS FOR EARLY DETECTION OF AN OUTBURST:

Accelerated heart rate

Sudden movements

Tensed muscles

Physical agitation

*Based on literature review

MAIN COPING TECHNIQUES:

Empathy

*Based on focus groups and literature review

Breathing
techniques

Relaxing sensory

stimulation (sound/smell)

MAIN IDENTIFIED CHALLANGES

1

Violent outbursts are unexpected and unique to each patient.

2

Medical crew is experiencing difficulty of giving personal care due to limited manpower in the ward.

PROPOSED SOLUTION

The solution should help nurses feel more safe while keeping patients' autonomy and sense of self care.

Create a system that can identify a potential violent outburst and provide patients with a personalized de-escalation experience and nurses with followup option

Tools for the patient

A WEAREABLE DEVICE

A sensor based device that tracks the key physical measures and alerts the nurses of any drastic changes

EMG sensor

Heart rate sensor

Gyroscope

A SENSORY RELAXATION ROOM

A de-escalating experience including sound and smell, fitted to the patient’s needs.

A tool for the medical crew

A FOLLOWUP DESKTOP APP

A real time app that monitor patients’ physical measurements and alert the nurses about anomalies.