Warwick, United Kingdom
Designed to bridge the distance between rural communities and medical professionals, the Panadol Pain Phone by DCA Design International and Panadol provides a video screen for face-to-face interactions, as well as sensors that measure metrics such as heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, and oxygen levels.
Created to accelerate health access to everyone, the Panadol Pain Phone was awarded a historic Good Design award for 2023 by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design, and Urban Studies.
In rural Indonesia, people face a difficult choice – endure the physical and emotional burden of pain or make a long journey to access medical care that can be hours away.
As a result, 42 million* people in rural Indonesia delay treatment because medical care is too far away.
Panadol set out to bridge the distance between people in these rural Indonesian communities who are in pain and the experts who could help.
The Panadol Pain Phone uses the familiarity of a pay phone booth to overcome the fear of new technology and incorporates key devices to make the consultation personal and reliable.
It has a video screen for face-to-face interactions and includes sensors that measure common metrics taken in consultations – such as heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, and oxygen levels.
It also has a digital stethoscope that can live stream audio directly to the healthcare professional.
Project: Panadol Pain Phone
Designers: DCA Design International Ltd
Lead Designer: Miles Kilburn
Manufacturer: GSK Consumer Healthcare SARL
