Design disciplines

There is a significant opportunity for design to help reduce incidents of violence and aggression in an A&E context because it is a process that takes a user-centered and holistic approach to tackling issues.

The design process starts with research that enables collaborative development between frontline A&E staff, NHS managers, patients, visitors and other people who use the emergency department of a holistic understanding of which design disciplines can help address an issue. For the Reducing violence and aggression in A&E programme opportunities for designers to develop new services, clearer information sources and more effective environments were identified. This diagram shows how these opportunities are not mutually exclusive.

Desginers will understand the following points:

• Improving people’s experience of the service – individually and collectively – will help to improve their behaviour.
• The current system tries to contain the high level aggression and violence, rather than tackling the root causes and low level frustrations.
• Violence and aggression doesn’t only come from patients, but also concerned friends or relatives. At present, very little is done to address their needs.
• Any designed solutions need to be retrofittable in every A&E across the country, regardless of department size, design or layout.

Find out more about the role each discipline can play in improving the A&E experience using the links below.