Dr. Daniel Golden, a radiation oncologist at the University of Chicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center at Silver Cross Hospital, collaborated with students at Illinois Institute of Technology’s Institute of Design in Chicago to create an illustrated radiation therapy guide for patients.
Golden and Tomoko Ichikawa, clinical professor at the college, received a grant from the University of Chicago Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence to fund the project. The student design team first reviewed existing radiation therapy patient education materials to familiarize themselves with radiation therapy.
Next they visited Golden in New Lenox, where they immersed themselves in the patient experience – from entering the clinic to actually laying on the treatment tables used for radiation therapy.
They also interviewed patients, caregivers, doctors, nurses, radiation therapists and social workers to absorb all angles of the radiation therapy patient experience.
The result is a straightforward, double-sided, 11-by-17-inch guide.
For more information about Silver Cross Hospital, visit www.silvercross.org.