Designing a less daunting hospital experience for paediatric patients
Going to the hospital can be a very daunting experience for a child. The Wild Ward’s is a brand that aims to make that experience less daunting.
The Wild Ward’s explores ways in which characters can be implemented within a hospital to humanize the child’s experience. Using the characters to represent different experiences children may encounter during their treatment. The characters follow the child through their hospital journey focusing on three key stages, explanation, distraction, and reward.
The Wild Ward's takes distressing areas of treatment and turns them into a more positive experience for children. The brand's three-step system is designed to be implemented within a hospital while allowing room to evolve across the different needs of the hospital ecosystem.
The first step is the explanation phase. This is done through the Wild Ward’s library, a collection of books that explain different treatments and experiences encountered in the hospital. The books introduce characters who explain complex topics in a simplified manner, giving the young patient information but in a way that doesn't cause more distress. The first book I wrote and illustrated is called 'The lion who lost his mane', designed to help children understand the process of losing their hair due to chemotherapy.
The next step is the distraction phase. This step takes place in the form of an I-spy poster for the walls of treatment rooms to be used during treatment to distract children from pain and anxiety by diverting the child’s attention to the poster.
The third step is the reward phase. At this step, embroidered badges are given out as a reward to patients for being brave during treatment. The badges can be collected and displayed to tell the story of a child’s journey through treatment.
