Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania All CaseStudies

Service Design & Data Visualization for Rapid Response Teams

The Challenge

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) is an internationally recognized provider of quality care and a state-of-the-art research center. HUP approached Electronic Ink to better understand and improve its Rapid Response Team (RRT) service. When an emergency occurs within a hospital, be it a visitor slipping and falling in the cafeteria or a patient who is unresponsive to treatment and in a constant state of decline, the RRT-a multidisciplinary team of doctors and nurses-is paged to provide appropriate care. HUP was concerned the response system may have inefficiencies that impede the highest level of care during RRT events.

The Electronic Ink Solution

Electronic Ink sent a team of Designers and Design Researchers to shadow and observe the RRT response process and perform a thorough review of data from previous RRT events using customized journals and tools. Through direct observation and analysis of past data, Electronic Ink provided HUP with detailed data visualizations and models that provided hospital management with a new understanding of RRT workflows and processes. Models of the actual events, these visualizations provided insights into RRT response times, event locations, human interactions during events, and communication models before and after incidents.

Net Result and Impact

The models Electronic Ink created empowered HUP to refine the composition of RRT teams and how they respond to calls, thereby elevating the quality of care that they are able to provide for all patients. HUP understood that running numbers through a spreadsheet would not allow them to understand how critical personnel manage RRT responsibilities every day. Partnering with Electronic Ink provided key human insights to make this crucial service even more responsive to hospital needs.