Smar+ER Care

Journey Mapping

To better understand the stressors surrounding ER visits, we journey-mapped the patient experience—from arrival to diagnosis—to identify key pain points. Through this process, we uncovered several critical issues:

Key Issues Identified

• Lack of wait time transparency – Patients have no clear idea of how long they’ll be waiting.
• Redundant information exchange – Patients must repeat the same details multiple times, increasing the risk of errors and frustration.
• Inefficient patient flow – Patients bounce between the waiting room and nurses multiple times before reaching a diagnosis.

Our Approach

1. Room Redesign to Improve Flow

The schematic above represents the current layout of Mount Sinai’s Emergency Room. Patients enter at the bottom right corner, the waiting room is centrally located, triage happens in a separate room at the top, and the ED is down the hallway next to triage. This layout leads to bottlenecks and inefficiencies in patient movement.

This redesigned ER layout introduces:

• Biometric scanning stations (top right corner) at the entrance to automate patient check-in.
• Three vitals stations (top center) that provide immediate health assessments upon arrival.
• An automated system that factors in a patient’s physical assessment, reason for visiting, and vitals to determine their wait time—ensuring a more transparent and efficient patient flow.

2. App for Efficient Check-In

To complement the new layout, we designed an app to streamline patient check-ins and improve communication. We created a semi-functional prototype to gather user feedback, which directly influenced the final app design.

This redesigned ER layout introduces:

• More efficient onboarding – Reduces repetitive information exchange.
• Real-time updates – Provides patients with live wait-time estimates.
• Improved transparency – Ensures patients stay informed throughout their ER visit.

This human-centered redesign combined physical space optimization with digital tools, resulting in a smoother, less stressful ER experience for both patients and medical staff.

User Validation

As a final test, I took the initiative to validate our product and concept design at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania’s ER. With my brother working there as a resident in the ER (at the time of this project), I had the opportunity to shadow medical staff, observe workflows, and gauge interest in our solution.

The ER staff responded very favorably to both the app interface and room layout redesign, recognizing their potential to improve efficiency and reduce patient stress. Based on conversations with triage nurses, we identified several key areas for future iterations:

• Incorporate more visual aids in the app – Nearly 50% of ER patients are illiterate, requiring pictorial or icon-based navigation.
• Increase the number of vitals stations – To accommodate higher patient volumes and prevent bottlenecks.
• Reevaluate biometric scanning methods – Face recognition may be more practical than fingerprint scanning for faster, touchless check-ins.
• Allow critical patients to bypass check-in – The system should recognize emergency cases and immediately prioritize those in urgent need of care.

The ER staff responded very favorably to both the app interface and room layout redesign, recognizing their potential to improve efficiency and reduce patient stress. Based on conversations with triage nurses, we identified several key areas for future iterations: