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Mira

Design for the Future of Intensive Care Units in ten years in collaboration with the health products manufacturer Getinge.

Date:

Oct 2024

Creation Place:

Umeå Institute of Design

Project Length:

10 weeks

Video:

https://youtu.be/HM9c9mfOAmQ

Design of an ICU room from the needs of patients, families and caregivers.

Our concept reimagines the ICU as a place for recovery, connection, and care. A centralized hub organizes devices and cables, making room for a more seamless workflow for nurses and for welcoming furniture that fosters family connection and participation in care. Other features balance privacy, visibility, and personalization, transforming the ICU into a healing environment that feels more like home. We envision an ICU that supports patients, families, and staff equally by making room for recovery, connection and care - helping the patient take their first steps back to life.

Meet my team members Xiaoyu, Frida, Silvester and our project Mira.

Over decades the ICU grew to only meet medical requirements.

“I was really scared to be connected to all of these machines." - Patient experience in ICU

Over decades, the ICU has become a maze of machines, tubes, and alarms – built to meet medical needs but leaving little space for the human experience. New research shows that keeping patients less sedated and encouraging early mobilization helps recovery and reduces hospital stays. The environment you wake up to feels intimidating and insecure—blurred boundaries between public and private, leaving no sense of home. We all share the same goal: to help patients recover and return to their lives. So why is one of the most critical rooms in the hospital still designed only for survival?

Different Environments in Patients ICU Stay

mobilize

privacy

social

overview

personalise

noise

social

mobilize

privacy

overview

personalise

noise

Centralised Hub for Machines connected to the patient bed

The setup mode allows for the shortest distance between patient and care modules, helping the nurses to quickly connect everything, when a new patient arrives. Care Mode is the standard configuration during the day, allowing nurses quick access to any necessary machines, while still keeping them out of the patients vision. Calm mode hides the care modules as much as possible, to create a comfortable and silent environment during visits and at night.

concept group effort | rendering Xiaoyu

Access machines from the hallway during the night to reduce noise.

During emergencies everything needs to go quick! With the push of a button the motorized bed moves the hub out of the dock for access to the head and 360° treatment.

“We want to take patients outside, it is important to give them hope. But we need eight people right now.” - ICU nurse

“We want to take patients outside, it is important to give them hope. But we need eight people right now.”
- ICU nurse

Caregivers give their best to help patient heal as fast as possible. While their days are already full, they still make the effort to transport patients outside, e.g. the rooftop, because they know how beneficial it is for their recovery. This means a staff-heavy highly risky operation to carry the patient connected to all the survival-necessary machines through many tubes and cables. Our concept introduces one hub that can easily be carried by one person that secures all the cables in one location.

The Process.

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