Enervision Media - Case Study: Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Network

Case Study: Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Network

Award-Winning Site Redesign Improves Accessibility

Client: Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Network

The Site: SpauldingRehab.org is the public site for Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Network, a Massachusetts healthcare provider. (See the site)

The Challenge

Spaulding is a leading provider of rehabilitative services, known worldwide for its high quality staff and patient-focused care. It needed a Website that reflected this image. Its existing site, created with a "template" Web service, had a number of issues:

•	Information architecture issues.The site had a convoluted structure that made it difficult to navigate.
•	Unappealing interface. The look and feel of the site was cold and institutional, and not reflective of the caring, human qualities Spaulding was so well known for.
•	Numerous display issues.The site was optimized to display on Internet Explorer, and literally "fell apart" in certain other browsers. The site needed to be accessible to a wider audience of users, as well - some of whom had disabilities or special needs (such as screen readers).

Our Approach

Working closely with Spaulding's Communications Department and representatives throughout the hospital network, our work on this large-scale site redesign included:

•	A user-centered needs analysis to define the functional and content requirements for the site. Usage scenarios for the different types of site users (including patients, physicians, prospective employees, and medical students) were developed as a basis for requirements.
•	Development of new content focusing on the human stories and "remarkable recoveries" at Spaulding. The old and the new content was integrated into a new, action-oriented information architecture.
•	Creation of a new interface that provided Spaulding with a distinctive, professional online identity and that was easy for many different kinds of users to navigate and use.
•	Production of virtual tours of the hospital and outpatient centers.
•	Development of custom content management tools for Spaulding staff.

The site was developed with Microsoft technologies ASP.Net, IIS, and SQL. Rich media included Quicktime VR, Flash, Java, and multiple streaming video formats.

Results

"Enervision was a perfect complement to our internal team," says Christine Fennelly, Senior Director of Communications for Spaulding. "They worked in a very collaborative manner, contributing many ideas for the site we might not otherwise have thought of."

•	The site is now a rich media showcase of Spaulding's capabilities. Virtual Tours enable patients to check out the facilities before making an appointment. Streaming videos highlight many of Spaulding's patient's "remarkable recovery" stories.
•	The site has a fluid design and is compatible with all major browsers and Web devices. The site has also been built to be "multi-lingual capable," for future extensibility.
•	An online donations feature is helping the Development group with its fund-raising efforts.
•	The site is easy to update. Non-technical Spaulding staff can now add or edit content on their own.

"We now have a site that will help us achieve our goals in reaching and communicating with our target audience."says Fennelly.

Following the release of the new site, SpauldingRehab.org won a Gold award in the MarCom Creative, an international competition judged by the Association of Marketing & Communication Professionals.