The Challenge

Create a veterinary care experience that improves the well-being of patients and employees while increasing client happiness.

If we could ask dogs what their least favorite location to visit is, veterinarian clinics would most likely rank among the top three. Despite major advancements in veterinary care over the last few decades, veterinary clinics have altered relatively little, resulting in a clear mismatch between the architecture of the space and the demands of the many species that interact within them.

A Mars Petcare-owned chain of veterinary facilities in the United States and Canada wanted to examine how the architecture of veterinary clinics could be enhanced. They came to pH-auna for assistance in visualizing what a business-savvy, multi-species care experience could look, feel, sound, and smell like.

We collaborated with key stakeholders - veterinarians, veterinary technicians, clinic support personnel, customers, and corporate workers - to better understand the sorts of interactions that occur at a typical clinic. One of our key insights was the difficulty in delivering so many diverse types of services under one roof; for example, wellness exams, urgent care, surgery, grooming, post-operative care, end-of-life, dental, boarding.

The goal was to provide a design blueprint for the future generation of veterinary clinics that would adequately accommodate the demands of different species while providing the clinic's many services.

Rather than designing human-centered service journeys, the design approach was based on revealing the dog's sensory, physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and cultural experience during a wellness visit. To do this, we set up cameras on specialty harnesses worn by patients to capture their journey while at the clinic, as well as overhead and side view cameras in a few of exam rooms commonly utilized for wellness exams.This allowed us to identify service requirements for the dogs. For example, g oing in for a wellness check-up, should not require the dog to walk by or be exposed to a surgical environment.

During the clinic redesign, pH-auna also developed a variety of separate service routes for the dogs based on noise and scent. Furthermore, we provided clear visual signaling methods around the facility to assist clients navigate the environment calmly and therefore convey their disposition to their canines. Offering various entrances for surgery and wellness care, for example, and entirely insulated - noise, sound, and odor resistant - end of life service pods.

pH-auna also created interior lighting, color, material, and furniture requirements to help maintain design consistency from the dog's perspective; patient personas to help guide the design of different care spaces based on patient needs; and design schematics for the clinic's reception, pharmacy, and staff break rooms, which improved staff wellbeing and client satisfaction.

Our customer called the work "eye-opening, pH-auna's approach to creating crucial moments in the patient experience helped us understand what we do and how we could do it better from an entirely different viewpoint."