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Patient experience

Using design thinking to investigate and improve patient experience

Added on 5 November 2021 Peter Bogaards

The scientific method for future experiences: design thinking.

“Understanding and enhancing the patient experience can lead to improved healthcare outcomes. The purpose of this study was to capture a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the patient experience on an inpatient medical teaching unit in order to identify key deficiencies and unmet needs. We then aim to implement a design-thinking methodology to find innovative ways to solve these deficiencies. Here we present the first two phases of this four-phased study. We retrospectively and prospectively collected quantitative data about patient experience with the Canadian Patient Experiences Survey-Inpatient Care. We then used this data to guide patient interviews. We identified several key deficiencies including call bell response times, noise levels at night, pain control, education about medication side effects, communication between healthcare team members, and how well healthcare team members remain up to date about patient care. In the final two phases of our study, we will select one or more of these deficiencies and collaborate with patients and other stakeholders to rapidly create, employ, and assess the impact of prototypes through an iterative action cycle until effective and sustainable solutions are found.”

Jennifer Smiechowski et al. ~ Patient Experience Journal 8.3 ★

The future of patient experience: Five thoughts on where we must go from here

Added on 13 December 2019 Peter Bogaards

This one will be evenly distributed.

“​In looking to the future, we must never forget it is grounded in today and the steps that brought us to this point. Those efforts and actions that led to where we stand now set the foundation for all we can do and what we will accomplish as we look to the future. This idea of not looking too far ahead without knowing where you stand is fundamental in human nature. Far too often we have let our gaze to the future miss the people right in front of us or overlook the significance of the moment in which we stand. As we look to the future of experience in healthcare, we must start identifying and acknowledging the bigger issues facing healthcare overall. When we look at experience as the strategic heart of healthcare where quality, safety, service, cost and access come together to ensure the best outcomes overall, we can then build a path forward that serves all in healthcare. To do so we must consider where we go from here and how we take the critical next steps. This article offers five thoughts on how experience will change in moving towards its future. Yet with all we know is possible in healthcare, if we remain committed to one another, to what is possible and to what we believe our fellow human beings want and deserve, then we will also know the right thing to do and the next steps to take. That is where the future of experience awaits.”

Jason A. Wolf PhD ~ The Beryl Institute | Patient Experience Journal ★

Patient perspectives: Four pillars of professionalism

Added on 7 November 2019 Peter Bogaards

Professionalism as core value of the Health sector.

“​Professionalism is a core component of healthcare practice and education; however, there is often not a consistent description of professionalism, and current definitions lack a key perspective: that of the patient. This study aimed to deepen understandings of patients’ perspectives on how professionalism should be enacted by healthcare providers. Using a phenomenological approach informed by constructivist theory, the study team conducted semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 21 patients to ascertain their views on professionalism. Data analysis was conducted using a constant comparative approach wherein initial analysis informed subsequent data collection. Participant themes fell into four pillars of professionalism: taking a collaborative human-first approach; communicating with heart and mind; behaving with integrity; and practicing competently. This study highlights patient perspectives on professionalism and examines consistencies and differences between those perspectives and those of healthcare providers, which are extensively described in the literature. While published literature highlights competence and communication as main aspects of professionalism which our participants also focused on, participants in this study emphasized integrating patients into care teams, employing empathy, and demonstrating integrity.”

Laura Yvonne Bulk et al. ~ Patient Experience Journal 6.3 ★

Designing for generations: A look at UX in healthcare

Added on 30 July 2019 Peter Bogaards

Designing a healthy experience.

“As UX researchers and designers working in healthcare, it’s our job to advocate for the user. Involving nurses in innovation and research is critical in advancing the digitization of healthcare. As you plan research and design, consider the varied ages and tech approaches of clinicians and beware of the complex ecosystem in which your designs will live. Given the growth of voice interfaces, telemedicine, AR/VR, etc, we are witnessing a wave of new technology in healthcare and with it comes an equally large learning curve.”

Eliana Stein and Barbara Gulten ~ UX Booth ★

The digital revolution will see you now: transforming patient experience in the digital era

Added on 26 July 2019 Peter Bogaards

Digital and experience transformations, in every domain you can imagine.

“Industry after industry has reinvented itself in response to upstart challengers and shifting consumer expectations that are the hallmarks of this new era. The same is true in healthcare, where we have weathered the introduction of the electronic medical records, patient portals and now interoperability. But to date our industry’s digital transformation has been guided largely by government regulation – leaving the design of the future of healthcare to be driven by policy makers and executed largely by IT departments. Meanwhile, most other industries have turned to a different guru for inspiration and guidance: the consumer. Northwell Health has undertaken a cultural transformation grounded in patient and family centered care. In this narrative, we explore our digital patient experience journey and lessons learned. Every person, every role, every moment matters.”

Emily Kagan Trenchard, Laura Semlies, and Sven Gierlinger ~ Patient Experience Journal ★

Reframing the conversation on patient experience: Three considerations

Added on 23 April 2019 Peter Bogaards

Reflection on naming is framing.

“In experience, every voice matters, and each of those individual voices are contributing to an ocean of ripples that are positively impacting countless lives. In experience, no one organization owns, nor should claim to own all the answers, but many contribute to the possibilities found in elevating the human experience in healthcare. In experience, when we ensure this is a true strategic focus at the heart of healthcare we will find our way to achieving all the outcomes we aspire to achieve and know are possible in healthcare. This issue helps frame that reality though contributions from around the world touching on a broad range of topics, but yet in their distinction, find a powerful commonality, a commitment to the humanity of healthcare. If we reframe the conversation on patient experience to one that is about all we aspire to achieve, about how every role matters, every voice contributes, every perspective brings value and seasoning to an ever expanding mix of possibility, than what we can do in healthcare is boundless. A conversation on experience is not tangential to this opportunity we face, rather it rest squarely at its core and it is incumbent on each and every one of us to contribute. That may be our greatest opportunity in a global healthcare system where access and equity, quality and safety, empathy and compassion and health and well-being are not just what we do as work, but the fundamental reality of all do as human beings caring for human beings.”

Jason Wolf ~ Patient Experience Journal (Volume 6 Issue 1) ★

The experience era is upon us

Added on 6 November 2016 Peter Bogaards

Computational experiences in ehealth will be next up.

“In this moment in healthcare, the challenges for those in the system are dynamically shifting and the perspectives, desires and needs of the healthcare consumer are putting positive and lasting pressures on how healthcare works that will shift healthcare from where it has been to where it must go. At the heart of this transition are the ideas framing an experience era, where collaborative, consumer-focused and purposeful actions can and will lead to a healthcare system returning to its fundamental calling, that of human beings caring for human beings. In doing so we can change the nature of healthcare and reignite the purpose that brought people to this work and that have individuals seek it for care. In this framing is also the call to action to contribute new insights and perspectives to expand the dialogue, reinforcing the critical and lasting nature of the experience conversation for all it has influenced and all it will impact for many years to come.”

Jason A. Wolf ~ Patient Experience Journal Volume 3 – Issue 2