Creating Waiting Rooms Worthy of the Kids They Serve
[Music]
[Applause]
hey
everybody i really was making you wait i
didn’t forget i was making you wait
well because waiting is fun right you
all like waiting
you started to get a little
uncomfortable thought i was gonna crash
i wasn’t i love waiting it’s super fun
yeah said no one ever we hate waiting
you know where i do a lot of waiting
at the doctor’s office and for me it’s
probably the worst part of the entire
experience for me
and it’s inevitable right i mean we have
to wait
if we all showed up at once that’d be
probably even worse really chaotic
it can be long and stressful right if
you’re a parent like me could be just
plain crazy so
if it feels uncomfortable to wait or if
it feels stressful
and boring for you as adults
imagine what that feels like through the
eyes of a child
over 90 percent of the kids in the
united states see a doctor
every year and on average they’re going
to see a doctor
31 times from the time they’re born to
the time they’re 21.
honestly i think that number’s low my
kids are at the doctor way more than
that
and really if you have sick kids that
number will easily double
now taking the kids to the doctor is no
joke right
it can be scary for them can be crazy
for parents it’s chaotic in a recent
national survey
half of parents reported that their kids
were actually scared of going to the
doctor
does that seem insane it’s really not
children often report feeling afraid or
anxious about going to the doctor
and when kids are anxious what’s really
happening is a lot of times they’re
imagining something
much worse than what’s really going on
doctor’s office shot doctor’s office
sick right it’s this fear of the unknown
so they’re making it up in their head
so they might worry that everything’s
gonna hurt right and they get stressed
out
and that stress is real stress actually
can impede
health care good quality health care in
that same study
one out of five parents actually said it
was so hard to concentrate on what the
doctor or nurse was saying because their
kids were so upset
that they delay routine appointments and
vaccinations just to avoid the
experience altogether
that’s crazy i mean delaying health care
because your kids get upset
it can even manifest into white coat
syndrome
it’s this phenomenon where your blood
pressure actually
rises into an abnormal range just at the
thought
of being at the doctor’s office 20 of us
so i think we can all agree going to the
doctor’s office as a kid can be scary
right
or maybe it’s bringing up some emotions
for you right
think back to when you were a kid
this is me back when i was
cool yeah when i was a kid
i don’t have so many memories about the
doctor’s office per se
but i have a lot of vivid memories about
going to the dentist as a kid
so when i was little it was a big deal
to go to the dentist and my family
my mom would have to get us out of
school early yeah
and she’d load us all up into the car
and she’d drive us
about a half hour away into town for the
dentist appointments
and let me tell you what this was like
so you walk into this
medical office building with lots of
different offices and
the first thing that you see when you
walk into the lobby
is this huge bright blue sailfish
on the wall i mean i’m talking like a
10-foot
sailfish or marlin i don’t know whatever
it was it’s weird right
on the wall like what’s with fish and
dennis office yeah
you’re laughing because it’s true so
anyway once you get past the sailfish
you’d go down the steps into the
basement
and there was this bathroom and my mom
always made us
pack our toothbrushes and toothpaste and
she’d make us go into the bathroom
and we’d have to brush our teeth before
we went back to get our teeth
brushed and cleaned by the dentist was
that just my mom
ah no see your mom did it too that’s
funny right
it was in those moments that i remember
feeling anxious
nervous right like did i have a cavity
or was i going to be in trouble because
my teeth weren’t clean
but not everything about the dentist’s
office was bad
two words highlights magazines
yes yes yeah still love them today
so the best part about going there was
that if you got to be the first one in
when the new edition was there
you could be the first one to circle all
those hidden objects before somebody
else screwed it up
had to cross things out in there
we also had a treasure chest right so
like it was really just a glorified shoe
box but it had stickers in it and that
was awesome
and those moments right that we that we
remember that bring us joy
those are the moments when your fears
about being there
melt away so
it’s been a few years since that picture
i’m still cool but i’m a mom
now chocolate’s still life but
as a mom right as an adult i carry that
baggage
with me along with my parenting fears
right as i take my own kids to the
waiting room
so what’s it like to take kids to the
doctor’s office
i’ll tell you what it’s like to take my
kids to the doctor’s office
they’re sweet they’re lovely lovely kids
but let me tell you a story
about a year ago i took both of them
um to the doctor’s office for a routine
visit
wellness checks nothing scary in fact um
we always tell them like my husband and
i will say like no owies
right no shots because that’s what
they’re always thinking like if they
gotta go to the doctor they’re getting a
shot
so when you take kids to the dentist or
the doctor’s office you walk
in you check in you do your paperwork
and the receptionist hands you a
clipboard
with about a four page questionnaire and
she says okay you’re all checked in
go over here sit down and wait and the
nurse will call you when she’s ready
okay sounds good so we go over
and i take my seat and i start in on my
four page questionnaire
and my kids start being kids and what do
they do
they’re on the floor they’re climbing on
chairs they’re digging in my purse right
like can i have a snack right can i have
your phone mom
and i’m like no can you just sit down
and just can you just sit down and be
still
because that’s the expectation right i
mean it’s informal that’s not like
there’s rules in the waiting room
but you’re supposed to go in and sit
down and be quiet
wait patiently for the doctor will see
you now
but what other choice did they have
right it’s either clinging to me out of
fear
or running around and this particular
doctor’s office had one
option for them a children’s area well
it wasn’t much of a children’s area it
was a big screen tv
up in the corner and um two of these
like tiny little
plastic chairs for them to sit on that
was it
so think about that experience and you
may have
had something similar happen right in
that chaotic
like stressful moment as a parent i knew
that we could do better i knew that this
experience could be better not just for
my family but for all the families
that have to go through that so how was
i gonna do that
that’s when i started digging in
i work for a large healthcare
organization
i’ve spent a lot of my career trying to
do really good things
for kids i have two children’s programs
at this organization one aimed at
empowering kids to make healthy choices
for life
the other aimed at inspiring kids to be
curious
problem solving critically thinking
adults
so i’m not a pediatric nurse
or a designer or a doctor i’m a health
care administrator
but i’m invested in kids wellness
personally
and professionally so when you’re me
where do you start well i was really
lucky i had an organization behind me
that supported this idea to make this
better and i have a
crazy talented team beside me to help
take this idea to the next level and
make it happen
well there’s no road map for this so
what you do is you look for models that
exist already right
you don’t need to reinvent the wheel for
this but
the problem is waiting rooms haven’t
really changed that much since i was a
kid or
even since my parents were kids
here’s a level set this is what a
waiting room looked like
back in the 19 something when i was a
kid
mauve sage green probably gives it away
here’s what a waiting room looks like
now there’s not much difference
you can see the addition of the big
screen tv
a little play area in the corner but
really kind of void of
stimulation these are both actually
pediatric waiting rooms
basically since the 1970s healthcare
environmental research
has been around and it’s been focused on
improving the patient experience
which is good right but it’s improving
the experience for adults
the the stakeholders really right the
ones making medical decisions
paying the bills they’re the
stakeholders not kids
the research focused on kids um focuses
on hospital rooms right making sick kids
feel better
or procedure areas which makes a lot of
sense but doesn’t really help me
for trying to figure out what to do in a
waiting room to make it fun
so without a model you have to start
looking at just designing for kids
right so the research that’s out there
to support that
you look at schools museums and what you
see when you design for kids
color shapes animals movement
right fun things these are positive
distractions that can actually make kids
feel comfortable
in some of these settings and play-based
distractions are a good idea too
right yeah plays a good answer
mr rogers is famous for saying play is
the real work of childhood
because it’s serious learning for them
and he’s right
play is essential for kids
over and over again the research
supports that play improves
physical skills mental ability social
and emotional awareness
so if play makes a lot of sense
why then do we insist me included that
kids go in and sit down and be quiet and
don’t move and wait patiently
have you met a kid wait have you met my
kids
yeah sup they’re super patient they love
sitting down and being still
no they don’t they’re not wired for that
you guys kids are not wired to sit down
and not wiggle at all
and that’s why these waiting rooms have
to change
we need developmentally appropriate
active
fun waiting room spaces that feel
a whole lot kinder to these kids we’re
trying to to entertain
play areas and waiting rooms that can
cater to both sick kids
and well kids so that’s a novel idea
right
do i have you convinced yes play areas
everywhere right
so if play is the answer to decreasing
kids anxiety
and improving the patient experience for
families why aren’t they
in every clinic dentist office across
the nation
is it possible to create these
fun spaces but keep them clean
without screens make them fun a place
that can make sick kids smile
well it turns out it’s not that easy
yeah
play play areas and waiting rooms are
kind of a tricky thing
show me if you remember these
yeah see bring them back lots of
memories these are bead mazes these are
these are fun these are entertaining for
kids
they were really popular in the 90s they
probably still exist in a lot of the
spaces today
but um let me tell you something these
are disgusting
they are they are full of germs you you
it’s impossible to clean
these things right and post pandemic
toys like this are going to be obsolete
so they’re gone right so if we can’t
have these and we don’t put in tvs
what are we supposed to do we have to
start thinking like kids
we have to get creative and use our
imagination and that’s what our team did
we started thinking about kids think
about your kids
or your grandkids or maybe yourself as a
child
when are they the happiest right when
they’re playing
when they’re just moving around and
playing
so now imagine that that joy that they
find in a museum or a park
and we’re going to take that joy from
the park and we’re going to put it into
a pediatrician’s office taking a place
that can spark
fear in kids and turning it into a place
that can spark
curiosity and imagination
here’s what happens when you think like
kids and you think big
no not this one this is the before
picture this is a remodel project
so this was an existing children’s area
here
in a clinic that um the clinic
leadership
um thought my crazy idea was was a good
one
and this dark sort of cramped space all
the toys have been taken out it really
didn’t get used much
and it was a blank slate for us right
and we took it
and we took all that inspiration from
where kids play
sensory paths mindfulness we thought
about
yoga we thought about building spaces
for
every kid to enjoy regardless of their
ability
and we made something extraordinary
this is what it looks like when you
design
for kids it’s bright
it’s colorful it’s a place where they
don’t have to sit down
and be quiet there’s no shushing right
there’s no don’t touch
anything stop touching stop touching
this is a welcoming space and the best
part is that there’s no toys in here to
clean
there’s no directions it’s it’s really
easy and it’s really
fun when kids come in they see a castle
space and they see bright colors
they see kids that look like them on the
wall
they can pretend they can they can
pretend to be ogres or princesses as
they make
their way through the pathway in the
castle on a sensory path
they can do yoga these are mine by the
way these are my two
they’re showing me their favorite throne
poses right
king poses so there’s a yoga wall where
they can do some breathing and some yoga
exercises
they’re not digging in my purse now
they’re hopping on one foot they’re
making silly faces
they’re instinctively doing what kids do
and they’re having fun
this makes me so happy as a healthcare
administrator this makes me really
really happy but it makes me even
happier
as a mom as a parent to see kids in a
space like this
now this is their core memory not a blue
sailfish in a basement dentist’s office
right this is my
son maverick and my daughter mila when i
took him to see the space for the first
time
they instinctively ran to it mom can we
play
and i said absolutely and all i had to
do was stand back and watch
they immediately took off hopping on the
path
skipping through laughing and playing
this is a space now that they think is
for fun
right can we go back to that doctor that
has that fun castle in the waiting room
this is what it looks like when you
design for kids
that space says to kids you belong and
we’re glad you’re here
so as a parent would you want your kids
to have an experience like that would it
make things easier for you or better for
you
doctors nurses dentists would you want
your patients to have an experience like
that
administrators like me you see this as
an opportunity
to market your space this clinic reports
fabulous results they’re seeing more and
more parents
interacting and playing with their kids
versus
offering ipads or phones as a
distraction while they wait
the doctors are happy staff love it
and as a health care organization it
feels really good to practice what we
preach
now this is just one idea right in one
clinic but it made a difference
and big or small everybody every
investment
in kids is meaningful and it’s impactful
and maybe the return on this investment
for us isn’t about revenue but it’s
about our kids having positive
experiences
because when children play the world
wins
this is about investing in their
well-being creating joyful spaces worthy
of the kids they serve
a place for kids to play but really a
place
to treat kids like the stakeholders they
really
[Applause]
are
you