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Regional health service · placeholder

The Deteriorating Patient.

An interactive observation chart that teaches escalation under pressure — learners read changing vitals, calculate the early warning score, and decide, in time, when to call for help.

The brief

Read the chart.
Act on it.

The early warning score only saves lives if people act on it. The client kept seeing the gap between staff who could calculate a score and staff who escalated at the right moment — and wanted training that closed it.

The answer was to make the observation chart itself the learning surface. Learners interact with a live-feeling chart, plot and read vitals, watch a trend develop, and make the escalation call — then see what happened next.

It needed to work across devices, including the ward tablets staff actually use, and meet accessibility standards without compromise.

40m
Run time
L3
Build level
3
Patient cases
AA
WCAG 2.1 target
lunalxd.com.au/deteriorating/obs
Observation chart
Set 3 of 4 · 30 min apart
RR climbing, SpO₂ falling. Score the obs.
Plot vitalsEWS: ?
Calculate →
Surface
Interactive chart
The shape

Learning on the
chart itself.

Format
Interactive observation chart with progressive vital-sign sets
Mechanic
Plot, score, interpret the trend, then make the escalation decision
Cases
Three patients with different deterioration patterns
Responsive
Built for desktop and ward tablet alike

Project details

  • Client · Regional health service (placeholder)
  • Role · LXD & Storyline build
  • Run time · ~40 minutes
  • Build level · L3 · Simulation
  • Audience · Nursing & ward staff
  • Output · SCORM package

Tools

  • Articulate Storyline
  • Affinity Designer
  • Figma
  • Clipchamp

Skills

  • Simulation & interaction design
  • Data-visualisation design
  • Clinical content authoring
  • Responsive build
  • Accessibility (WCAG 2.1)
Inside the build

Selected screens.

On-brand mockups — illustrative of the build style, not client screenshots.

My response to the briefApproach

How it came together.

The module turns a familiar artefact — the observation chart — into the interface. Across three patient cases, learners receive successive sets of vitals, plot and score them, read the emerging trend and decide whether and when to escalate. The skill being practised is judgement over time, not a one-off calculation.

Feedback closes each case by showing the consequence of the decision and the reasoning behind the ideal escalation point.

The interactive chart was designed as a genuine data-visualisation problem: clear plotting, honest colour-coding of risk, and a layout that reads at a glance on a tablet. Storyline variables handled scoring and branching, while the visual system kept the clinical data legible and calm.

Because the chart drives everything, accessibility was central — every plotted value and score is available to assistive technology, and risk is never signalled by colour alone.

Rendering a precise, interactive clinical chart that stays usable on small touchscreens was the core technical challenge — spacing, tap targets and legibility all had to hold up on a ward tablet without losing fidelity on desktop.

The design challenge was restraint: a chart full of numbers can overwhelm. Careful hierarchy, progressive disclosure and a quiet palette kept attention on the one thing that mattered at each step.

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