Transforming Hospitals

(Wicked Problems)

How might we change the end to end experience in hospitals?

Our main goal is to create a better experience from arriving at the hospital/doctor’s office to leaving.

To find out what the problem was I applied qualitative and quantitative methods to my research. I first started with creating a survey (qualitative data) regarding user experience with hospitals and doctor offices. It contained 10 questions that were taken by 57 people.

The next way I collected data was one on one interviews over the phone (quantitative data). The more interviews and surveys being done, I was able to get a better understanding as to what is the most common pain point in a person’s hospital/doctor experience.

With all this information collected I was able to make an:

-Affinity Diagram that showed trends and relationships in the data collected. The common trends were frustrated with waiting, from the waiting room to the doctor's office.

-Empathy Map that helped define who my user really is and to look at the world through their eyes and not mine.

With more information I collected from the diagrams, maps, interviews, and surveys, I created a persona to show who exactly the user is. The persona is Patient Patty, she is a yoga instructor who is 31 years old, has 2 kids, and loves nature. She likes to stay organized and stay healthy, nothing makes her happier than simplicity. She has difficulty remembering all of her and her kid's medical information.

“I always keep my medical information in a notebook. My mom used to keep mine and all my sister’s medical information in a notebook too.” -Stella 32

“I feel anxious when I have to fill out my forms and it’s always a hassle of keeping track of my records.” -Bobby 21

Waiting, being the main focus of the user’s problems, I had to focus more on, what is one-way wait time can be reduced and frustration be limited. I then focused in on medical forms and information that is part of the “waiting time”. Focusing on this common problem I was able to create “How Might We” (HMW) statements that then created ideas into opportunities.

HMW make the wait time shorter?

Idea: Electronically, “make sure to come 15 mins before your appointment”…this time is used for filling out forms…have forms already filled.

HMW make it easier for the user to be prepared for the doctor's visit?

Idea: Better organization of medical information and storage of records.

HMW make it easier for a user to keep a record of their and their kid's medical history?

Idea: An app that has all the medical/health information and she is able to add her kid's profiles as well, with the ability to update and share.

How might we help a young adult that is frustrated about going to the doctor who needs to fill out medical forms, but faces difficulty remembering all their medical history and their parents…along with finding where to keep this information?

To pick what idea is the simplest way to satisfy the user need, a MOSCOW chart was created.

Must Have: save insurance information and picture ID, always you to update medical information, save your medical information, ability to share.

Should Have: the ability to add more than one profile for families, fill in the generic medical form, and share medical information/history before an appointment.

Could Have: area to talk with a doctor virtually, test result updates, Doctor locator

Won’t Have: fast pay, drugstore locator

Opportunites that I saw from this were:

1. Fill out needed Medical Information before your appointment. Have everything ready and organized before appointment.
2. Share medical information with doctor
3. Save Medical Info and History in App. Update Medical Information through App

Key features would be:

Family Profile for Parents: Parents can easily add multiple profiles for their kids making it easier to organize and keep track of medical records and health.

Medical Records: Store, update, fill out, and send medical records.

Save Insurance and ID Information: No more physical forms needed

Collecting all this data and performing different ways of research, I learned that you can not help everyone. I had to really focus on, what is one way wait time can be reduced and how going to the doctor can be an easier experience. I looked at this with a micro perspective and really looked at the specifics. Even the “smallest” solution to one problem can make a big difference in a user’s experience.

With the research collected, one way to change a users end to end experience in a hospital is to create an app that allows them to save, update, and share the medical information, with features that also allow you to add multiple profiles, add family history and save insurance/ID information.