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Portfolio 7: Period Style

ART NOUVEAU

This is a picture of a 30 foot stained glass window that was installed at the Yale University library by the Louis Comfort Tiffany’s Glass Company in 1889-90. This window has characteristics of the Art Nouveau era with it’s dramatic curves, asymmetry, flowing lines, as well as dramatic and bold colors.

ART DECO

This picture is of a dress from the Art Deco era and is represented by it’s angular lines, geometric patterns, and simplicity. While this picture is in black and white, it appear that it is made with flashy, bold colors typical of this era.

PUNK

Here we have an image of a fan club mailer from the Ramones band popular in the Punk era. This image is strange and defiant in appearance, both of which are typical characteristics for this time period.

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RN Portfolio 5-6 “Design and Culture” Part 2

Renaissance influence in my home

The following photo is of the bay window in the front of my house. To be honest, I am not in love with the exterior of my home. However, this bay window helps to give character to my home, and the light that it allows in along with the beautiful outside view is one that would not be achieved with a standard window. In the times of the Renaissance, the emerging knowledge of craftsmanship allowed for building of walls that could support larger windows. When looking further into the history of bay windows, I found some interesting information about how bay windows were originally used in the Renaissance era. Traditionally, a bay window was placed at the end of a great hall and behind the raised platform that seated the lord of the home. Presently, these windows serve an important function to allow optimal light into the home and also help to make a home look larger, as well as add appeal to the home.

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RN Portfolio 5-6 “Design and Culture” Part 1

BAROQUE STYLE

This is a picture of a fountain in Rome, Italy called the Trevi Fountain built in 1762. It stands at a massive 85 feet tall and 65 feet wide, and is intricately detailed. It portrays the improvement in craftsmanship and expansion of wealth and resources for this time period. Architecturally, this fountain displays the character of symmetry and free curves known for this period.

ROMANTICISM

This image is a painting created by Francisco Goya, a late 18th and early 19th century Spanish artist when he lived in  Madrid. This painting is part of a collection called his “Black Paintings”, and were originally painted directly on the interior walls of the artists home. These paintings were never intended to reach the public eye, and were only discovered after his death. The paintings were attached to canvas after his death and are now displayed in the Museo del Prado  in Madrid.  This painting portrays the emotion, impulsivity, and imagination that was present within this time period.

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Portfolio #4: Scamper-Elements analysis-redesign

The unit I presently work on is lacking in natural light available to staff and patients. Due to the location of my unit, there are only windows present in each patient’s room. However, the windows are completely frosted which allows some natural light to enter, but feels very confining to the outside world. As referenced by Naccarella, 2016, the aesthetics of the working environment allow nurses to feel a sense of value by their employers. Many employees, including myself and patient’s, have asked why the windows are completely frosted over. The response to our inquiry was that the view from these windows was of duct work and that they felt this would not be aesthetically pleasing to patients. In order to improve this design, I would use the “modify” technique within SCAMPER, and remove the frosted portion of the window on approximately 1/4 of the top section of the window. This would allow individuals to see the sky, and what kind of weather was occurring. I feel this would help staff and patients to feel more connected to the outside world, and eliminate any feelings of being trapped in a stuffy, clinical environment. One of the quotes in the article by Naccarella, 2016, states, “I wouldn’t have a ferret in a box without a window, so why would you have an employee in a box without a window?”. I think this statement is truly reflective of how something as simple as having a window to see the outside world can influence how an employee perceives his or her value or lack of by their employer. 

BEFORE

AFTER

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Portfolio #3: Elements

Use of Line: The following picture is of a Jeep Patriot, the car I presently drive. I chose this object to describe the use of line because I feel this is what drew me to type of vehicle. I found it very interesting when car shopping that my husband and I have very different tastes in cars, and he has trouble understanding why I was attracted to this style. The shape of this car is boxy, with very defined lines. The preciseness and clear definition of the shape makes me feel safe, and evokes a feeling of ruggedness and strength. I felt the use of the shape gave this vehicle a sharp appearance and even though this may sound silly, it gave me a feeling of invincibility on the road. After discussing this with my husband and visiting several dealerships, we discovered that my husband enjoys a vehicle that has curves and a more sleek design.

Use of Color: This picture displays a living room that is quite similar to the living room I have in my home. I am particularly fond of light blues, browns, and creams. The brown and cream color in this picture make me feel warm and cozy. These colors help me to feel relaxed and make me want to snuggle up on the couch with a soft blanket. While these emotions are great, there is something to be said of the expression “too much of a good thing”. This is why I like the blues in this picture for a few reasons. For one, the blue in this picture can be seen in the middle of the room, which draws your attention to the center of the room which creates a feeling of closeness. The second feeling the blue color gives me is a sense of energy and awakens my mind. I feel the combination of warm (browns and creams) and cool (blues) help to complement each other and create a balance. While I enjoy feeling relaxed at home, I don’t necessarily want to feel like a “slug”, and the use of cool colors helps me feel relaxed, but alive!

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Week 3- Tumblr Portfolio

1.

2. In order to communicate what is especially important about the design of this product, I would stress the importance of hand hygiene compliance and it’s role in infection prevention in the hospital. I would reinforce this with evidence based research and statistics. While one of the constraints in this design may be cost, I would emphasize that the cost of these units pales in comparison to the cost of hospital acquired infections. I would stress that the convenience in respect to the location of this object would greatly improve compliance in a high paced, busy environment.

3. This hand sanitizer unit is an automatic hands free system designed to dispense a pre-measured amount of hand sanitizer with each use. The touch free technology reduces cross contamination, while the one dose application helps control cost. The hand sanitizer included with this product kills over 99.99% of germs when used as directed.

4.

This picture represents a nurse utilizing the hands free system outside of a patient’s room.

This picture is a powerful representation of the effectiveness of using hand sanitizer despite it’s ease of use.

This is a picture of the hand sanitizer units outside of every patient room.

This picture helps to put in perspective how easy “foaming in and foaming out” can be and is one of the best defenses in preventing infection.

This picture provides instructions on how to properly use hand sanitizer.

This photo shows how easy it is to transmit germs from surfaces to hands.

5. Three objects that would be particularly useful for my audience to touch and hold would be the actual hand sanitizer product, a sheet with statistics in regard to hand sanitizer effectiveness, and a blood pressure cuff with the product Glo-germ on it. Allowing my audience to sample the hand sanitizer as well as using the unit itself would allow members of the audience to see first hand how easy and efficient this product is. Providing a sheet with statistics on the effectiveness of hand sanitizer would be a great way to provide the audience with something they could read over and take home. Glo germ is a product that can be used to demonstrate the importance of hand hygiene, and how easy it is to pick up germs on our hands from medical equipment. By applying Glo germ on a blood pressure cuff and allowing the audience to hold the blood pressure cuff, a black light would reveal the cross contamination that occurs when handling medical equipment with our hands.

6. Since nurses spend the most time with patients providing direct care as stated in the article “At Bat: Nurses Step up to the Design Plate”, nurses understand first hand how important it is to find a quick and efficient way to prevent infection. As nurses, we have the power to create awareness of the need to increase hand hygiene compliance. Additionally, nurses should become familiar with the process of design in order to improve patient care while avoiding any extra costs (Eagle, 2016).

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Week 2 Portfolio Project

     After reading the article “The Impact of Facility Design on Patient Safety (Reiling, Hughes & Murphy, 2008), I chose the design problem #1, “Automate”. At the hospital I presently work at, our process of reporting critical lab values requires many steps that rely on taking the nurse away from the bedside unnecessarily instead of relying on technology that the hospital already has. In redesigning the process for reporting critical lab values, nurses will be able to have less interruptions at the bedside, and will improve patient safety and outcomes. Pictured above is the actual policy/procedure that is in place at the hospital I work at. 

     In order to solve the problem of the present design, I feel that I would have to begin on the first step of the design process, “inspiration”. Since this is a policy that has been approved by members of the administration of the hospital, it would be necessary to gain strength in numbers and to inspire others to voice their concerns as well as the benefits of modifying the present design in order to gain approval for these changes. Some team members may not realize that the present policy could be improved by making changes in the design of the process.

     The SCAMPER action that I would use toward a solution of the problem would be “modify”. The reason why this action would be an appropriate solution is that the steps of the present process are not necessarily wrong, but instead need to be adjusted by taking advantage of the technology available in the hospital. In this situation, I would “modify” the type of communication used in order to improve the safety and efficiency of the process.

     The present policy of reporting critical lab values falls under the “functionality” level of the hierarchy of needs. The present way we report critical values works, but is inefficient. For example, on any given day at the hospital, there are hundreds of critical values that are phoned into the nurses station, requiring the secretary to find the nurse. Most often, the nurse is in a patient’s room, and has to stop what he or she is doing to take the phone call down the hall. Our hospital now uses Care Thread, which is a secure mobile messaging system for healthcare providers. If we modified our policy to use the Care Thread system as the sole means of reporting critical lab values, this would place the process on the “proficiency” level of the hierarchy of needs. By using the Care Thread system for reporting critical lab values, I am certain that it would help all team members to perform their jobs better and more efficiently.  Presently, the laboratorian does not have access to Care Thread, and has no other choice than to report critical lab values over the phone.

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Pictured above is a keyboard I bought for my daughter for Christmas. It was my hope that my daughter would develop interest in learning how to read and play music, and that we could both learn how to play the piano together. The selling point of this particular keyboard was its capability to connect to a cell phone/iPad or laptop in order to use an online program or application to learn how to play the keyboard. After playing around with this keyboard for some time, it quickly became apparent to me that the laptop had better programs and was more effective in order to learn how to play. However, as you can see in the above photos, the design of the music stand does not meet standards ergonomically. Even when removing the music stand and placing the laptop on top of the keyboard, the pressure from the keyboard was inadvertently pressing on buttons. I have been thinking of how I could improve the design in order to use the laptop with this keyboard, and have been playing around with some ideas. My idea for a solution would be a retractable music stand that could extend in order to fit a laptop on. It could either extend behind to accommodate the laptop, or it could extend upwards with a flap or leaf that could fold down in order to place the laptop on without making contact with any of the keys on the keyboard.  

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Whenever I’m about to do something, I think, ‘Would an idiot do that?’, and if they would, I do not do that thing

Dwight Shrute