This project sought to establish patient-centric service design strategies and partner with the University of Chicago Medicine to streamline the delivery of home healthcare, with a strong focus on soft services.
ROLE
User Researcher
Service Designer
TIMELINE
January - May 2023
14 weeks
SKILLS
Mix Methods User Research
Data Analysis
Information Synthesis
Design Thinking
Strategy Development
Service Blueprint Design
Team Collaboration
TOOLS
Adobe Creative Suite
FigmaJam
Microsoft Office
Miro
Mural
TEAM
Aman
Priyanka
Latrina
Grace
Kat
Gayatri
Home will be the new site for care.
How should health systems prepare for it?
Overview
We developed strategies to transition safe, high-quality healthcare to the home environment, emphasizing soft services. In the context of delivering healthcare at home, a uniform approach is inadequate. Our exploration focused on three key areas of concern:
1 Establishing trust and empathy between patients and providers.
2 Ensuring the well-being of healthcare providers.
3 Procuring and implementing technology solutions.
We interviewed a diverse group of participants to gain insights into a wider range of challenges and perspectives.
Health systems
Community
12 providers
5 administrators
3 Patient Community Advisory Board Members + 1 Caregiver
*participants who delivered or received care in the home
Based on the interviews, we mapped out the journey of a provider from the time of arrival into the patients home, to the time of their exit.
This helped us determine some of the stakeholder pain points involved in the process..
Patient
Painpoints
May feel anxious or uneasy around unfamiliar people.
Has limited experience
with technology and feels unsure about using new monitoring equipment.
Uncertain about the quality
of care they will receive at home and if it will be the same as the care they would receive in a hospital.
Caregiver
Painpoints
Struggles to balance their personal life with their caregiving responsibilities.
Is not comfortable with the idea of strangers taking over their caregiving duties.
Patients rely on them for companionship and social interaction.
Healthcare provider
Painpoints
Has received little training on how to provide care in the home setting.
Building trust and a sense of safety with patients can
be challenging.
Communication with patients and their families can
be a barrier.
Our research and interview notes filled up our wall with lots of sticky notes, which were then analyzed and synthesized to observe :
6 categories and 18 sub categories of areas of focal points in a care-at-home model.
Further research synthesis and mapping led to the discovery of 3 major focal points..
Further research synthesis and mapping led to the discovery of 3 major focal points..
The project was originally designed to be patient-centered, but after hearing from healthcare providers, it was decided that provider-focused strategies would also be necessary.
1.
Elevating
Provider well-being.
WE HEARD…
Providers are concerned about their personal safety.
WE HEARD…
The ability to respond to unexpected
encounters with patients and families is important.
WE HEARD…
Providers wish for a sense of belonging.
At the hospital, providers predominantly
have a single role.
In the home, they serve multiple roles and they do so alone.
This leads to a decline in their well-being and job desirability
SO HOW MIGHT CARE-AT-HOME SERVICES
Support and enhance provider experiences in the home
to make care-at-home a desirable job?
2.
Building Trust and Empathy Between Patients and Providers
The lack of understanding of social needs can
lead to mistrust between patients and providers.
SO HOW MIGHT CARE-AT-HOME SERVICES
Strong therapeutic alliances that strengthen collaboration
and shared decision-making?
3.
Considerations
when Purchasing and Introducing Technology
SO HOW MIGHT CARE-AT-HOME SERVICES
Consider and prevent harmful unintended consequences of new technologies on provider and patient experiences?