We’d like to thank everybody for coming to our recent Healthcare Studio Design Bar event this past Wednesday. Fun was had by all and if you missed it, we thought we’d regale you with a colorful account of what you missed out on, and what our studio has been up to. The Design Bar consisted of four activities, and after each activity, participants were given a stamp on a wristband to enter a raffle prize!

Behavioral Health Trivia

Recently, we’ve been very proud to receive a Design Excellence award for our team’s work on the Roseville Behavioral Health project, so to learn a little more about what goes on in our behavioral health projects, Joan and Breanna created a game called “Behavioral Health Trivia” which included questions about types of care available at these health centers and reviewing installation photos and room layouts.

Shake Table Tower

Amy and Danielle’s “Shake Table Tower” illustrated an important part about the required testing that medical equipment must go through. Contestants competed against each other to build the tallest, most structurally sound pasta tower using only pasta, a marshmallow, a yard of tape, a piece of string, and gumdrops. After their allotted time was up, the towers were subjected to a shake test to simulate an actual earthquake. These tests while fun, are the basis for more complex actual and virtual models that we create to help ensure that our hospitals can properly serve and save lives even after disasters like earthquakes.

Pharmacy, or Not?

With recent code compliance changes, existing pharmacies have had to change the way they are laid out. In this station, we wanted others to learn about how a pharmacy needs to be laid out, what goes on in a pharmacy, what sort of equipment can be found in there, and what the equipment is used for. Players were given a picture and had to decide if that piece of equipment is found in a pharmacy. Whoever chose right out of 10 pictures won!

Compounding Relay

A pharmacy is a place where prescription medications are dispensed, but not all medications are processed and get on to the shelves the same way. In this station, we explored the steps it takes for pharmacists to process the medications and get them ready for dispensing. Some ingredients are ready-made while others need compounding. Of the drugs that need to be compounded, some are actually considered hazardous.

Teams needed to race each other to get as many “drugs” on the shelf as possible! Using a spinner, players found out what sort of drug they will be processing. To process a drug, players performed an activity. Ready-made drugs were processed by rolling a double on dice. To process a non-hazardous compound drug, players needed to “suit up” to stack poker chips while wearing oven mits. To compound a hazardous drug, players “suited up” twice to flip a cup over. The team that scored the most points at the end of 5 minutes won.

Thanks again to everyone for joining us, it was a fun event that incorporated a lot of learning and sharing of expertise across the department. Special thanks to Ann and Amy for putting together the delicious food, and thank you to everyone who helped out with set up and take down.