Improving healthcare workers' wellbeing through innovative design

A new initiative from RMIT’s School of Design aims to improve the comfort and workplace mental health of healthcare workers through 3D-knitted bespoke hospital scrubs and 3D printed chill-out pods.

The Safety Sensescaping project, funded by WorkSafe’s WorkWell Mental Health Improvement Fund, is part of Peninsula Health’s Thriving in Health program and is focused on creating safe and mentally healthy environments for healthcare workers to thrive in.

Project lead and RMIT Senior Lecturer Dr Olivier Cotsaftis worked with doctors, nurses and non-clinicians at Peninsula Health for three years to understand the psychosocial hazards in their workplace and find design-led solutions to prevent mental injury.

Cotsaftis said hospital scrubs were an unconscious source of stress for many healthcare workers, as they do not typically accommodate a wide range of body shapes and sizes. They are also often made from scratchy synthetic materials that can cause the wearer to overheat quickly.

“Many workers don’t realise how being uncomfortable in scrubs can add extra stress to an already stressful job,” Cotsaftis said.

“Some workers we spoke to said their scrubs felt suffocating during highly stressful situations.”

In order to find a more comfortable solution, Cotsaftis started with body scanning technology to map out the body’s measurements, then used 3D-knitting technology to create the scrubs.

Using yarn made from a blend of organic cotton and Seacell, an algae-based cellulose material, the final prototype was a breathable, comfortable and well-fitted set of scrubs, which were a hit with staff at Peninsula Health, Cotsaftis said.

Nurse Erin Colgan, who tested Cotsaftis’s prototypes, said she was not aware of how negatively her generic navy scrubs impacted her mental health until she was involved in the Safety Sensescaping project.

“This project has made me understand the impact scrubs and uniforms have on mental health and I have decided to change how my scrubs make me feel,” she said.

Cotsaftis is hoping to work with tech companies to fine-tune the 3D knitting and make the process more streamlined. He is also hoping to source new yarns made from organic waste to make the scrubs more sustainable.

Somewhere quiet to rest

Cotsaftis has also designed a suite of portable, modular, cost-effective and sustainable 3D-printed furniture, to tackle the lack of private, quiet resting spaces in healthcare facilities.

“Many healthcare workers take breaks wherever they can, but there may not be any seats to sit on or they might lack privacy,” he said.

“They’re also subjected to lots of noise pollution, which makes it difficult for them to de-stress.”

Cotsaftis designed a suite of portable, modular, cost-effective and sustainable 3D printed furniture. Image credit: RMIT University.

The furniture could be printed on demand when needed by the hospital, and industrially composted at the end of its life. Most importantly, the furniture is sound-absorbing.

The prototypes are made from corn polylactic acid (PLA), a compostable and carbon-neutral natural plastic, and recycled paper for its sound-absorbent properties.

Cotsaftis’s furniture design includes the use of rounded patterns, allowing sound to travel through the furniture rather than bounce off the surface.

More than aesthetics

Cotsaftis said his research with Safety Sensescaping highlighted how human-centred design can change our approach to creating products, services, strategies and policies to tackle the growing issue of mental wellbeing in the workplace.

“Design is often misunderstood as form and aesthetic, but it also includes the broader systems we sometimes interact with, such as health care,” he said.

“What we’ve designed is not just innovative scrubs or furniture, but a design strategy that can be used to tackle any work-related factors contributing to poor staff mental wellbeing in health care.”

2023 Safety Sensescaping Research and Engagement Report and Thriving in Health: Safety Sensescaping — A design approach to workplace mental health were prepared for and published by Peninsula Health’s Thriving in Health program.

Top image caption: Nurse Erin Colgan with RMIT Senior Lecturer Dr Olivier Cotsaftis at Peninsula Health. Image credit: RMIT University.