Start Date
6-10-2025 9:00 AM
End Date
8-10-2025 7:00 PM
Description
Service design has increased its attention on healthcare services in both research and practice. Despite the promise of considering the wellbeing of all actors involved in these services, it is very much the patient that is ‘focal actor’, with healthcare workers (HCWs) often being marginalised in these processes. Concurrently, diminished wellbeing of HCWs is leading to burnout and in turn medical errors that seriously impact patients and the healthcare service system. This paper reports on explorative, transdisciplinary design research that makes the HCWs the focal actor of the process and looks to design service rituals as an approach to at-work recovery. It contributes by offering insight into the development process of a replicable and transferable approach for service ritual in critical service systems. It offers reflection on this process whilst introducing the concept of ‘design for coping’ for those tasked with delivering our vital service systems.
Citation
Matthews, T.,and Khanna, K.(2025) Exploring service rituals for at-work recovery toward healthcare worker wellbeing.. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/servdes/servdes2025/researchpapers/23
Exploring service rituals for at-work recovery toward healthcare worker wellbeing
Service design has increased its attention on healthcare services in both research and practice. Despite the promise of considering the wellbeing of all actors involved in these services, it is very much the patient that is ‘focal actor’, with healthcare workers (HCWs) often being marginalised in these processes. Concurrently, diminished wellbeing of HCWs is leading to burnout and in turn medical errors that seriously impact patients and the healthcare service system. This paper reports on explorative, transdisciplinary design research that makes the HCWs the focal actor of the process and looks to design service rituals as an approach to at-work recovery. It contributes by offering insight into the development process of a replicable and transferable approach for service ritual in critical service systems. It offers reflection on this process whilst introducing the concept of ‘design for coping’ for those tasked with delivering our vital service systems.