Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Can you go into a hospital, look around and take photos?

Hi, I'm a final year design student looking into problems within the hospital environment (if you know any apart from the obvious i.e pressure on a&e let me know) and to research more into these, I want to visit a hospital and sit in the waiting room, talk to patients and take photos and possibly walk around.

Is this allowed? Or do I need to get permission? If so who from?

Sorry didn't know where to post this but I'm sure you guys would know anyway. Thanks!

get permission..

As for who from - pick your hospital, and then look their website for contact adresses, just try and find the one that best suits what you need, or if you cant find anyone phone up a non-emergancy line, and ask to be re-dirrected to the relivant person.. (or send this in an email) - just make sure not to do it on a line that is used by patients..

I would imagine they have a manager who controls the site, grounds, etc. who would probably be able to say yes or no to your request..

Can't help much beyond saying that you should probably try and get hold of the Chief Executive or somebody sufficiently important buuuuuut, if you design hospitals better people will love you forever including me :biggrin:

:biggrin:

Most hospitals have some variety of PR/media manager. They would probably be the first port of call. If not, they will forward you on to the right person.

But you better prepare your anus for a barrage of bureaucracy, so much so that it probably won't be possible in the end. I'm talking media release forms, patient consent, CRB checks etc.

(edited 9 years ago)

Original post by organizedchaos

Can you go into a hospital, look around and take photos?

No.

I replied in the other thread you made on this topic. In case you didn't see it there, you need to talk to your supervisor at university first and foremost about obtaining ethical approval from your university's research ethics board. Walking into a hospital waiting room where you are likely to encounter unwell and possibly distressed people without even giving them a heads-up beforehand would never be allowed by either your university or the hospital. You will need to come up with a sensitive way of recruiting participants that respects their confidentiality and takes all the costs and benefits of the project into account. Your supervisor can advise on the study design. You will need a solid research proposal before you even approach the hospital, to show them you've thought about all this.

My PhD research is with severely traumatised children and some of it is taking place in a day patient setting. Before I could go into the psych unit I had to have my study design approved by the ethics panel to make sure that I was putting the patients' interests and wellbeing first. It was a very long and laborious process, as shiggydiggy has said. It may be worthwhile thinking of how you could recruit participants without needing to go into a hospital, in case you don't have time to arrange it - an online questionnaire would be a simpler way, which you could post on forums for people with various disabilities or illnesses that have necessitated hospital admission. If you only want to focus on the A&E experience, asking to place a recruitment poster in your GP surgery might work out (although you will need to discuss that with your university too before you do it - I can't emphasise enough how important this is, your university could be in serious trouble if something goes wrong when you're researching with a vulnerable participant group and it turns out you hadn't followed the steps you were supposed to).

Hi, fully qualified medical photographer here. You should contact the medical illustration department at your local hospital. They have photographers and graphic designers that are specialists in healthcare visual communication. If you can get a week's work experience with them via your university and The Institute of Medical Illustrators you should be able to sort something out. Waiting room style photos could be staged by members of staff. It wouldn't necessarily be appropriate for you to use real patients especially as an undergrad with no affiliation to the NHS or a patients support organisation.

If you want to speak to patients in the hospital you will need clearance from HR, you will need a DBS certificate and a carefully constructed consenting procedure, if you collect any information that could be identifying or of a personal nature you would then need to handle it in compliance with the DPA 1998. Using online polls through online patient or medical staffing communities would be a way to get questions answered but again you must be transparent about who you are and why you are collecting data.

You may not like this option but there is actually plenty of information publically available already on the problems the nhs face. You just have to find it, determine its value and collate it then potentially use some stock images. It's the least risky in terms of law and ethics. The new My NHS website has lots and lots of data on all sorts of things. Waiting times, mortality, staff satisfaction etc.

OP

Thanks for your responses everyone, they have been extremely helpful, I think I am just going to post an online questionnaire for patients in the meantime and see if I can get in contact in any way with a hospital representative.

Would just sitting in the waiting room be okay? O rwould I still have to get permission? I just want to observe the environment and note down any feelings/reactions?

If anyone knows of any good online communities I could post my questionnaire on that would be great, but I'm going to research that anyway.

Original post by organizedchaos

Would just sitting in the waiting room be okay? O rwould I still have to get permission? I just want to observe the environment and note down any feelings/reactions?.

You could probably get away with this, as long as you didn't stand out like a sore thumb. It would also depend on the waiting room. You would certainly get away with sitting in the main atria of a large general outpatient department (i.e. phlebotomy department).

But if you went and sat in a smaller, specialised clinic waiting room, you would probably get staff asking who you were if you were there long enough.

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