Note this project required HIPPA Compliance Training
Overview
The client was awarded (by the National Institute for Health) a project to innovate the communication and patient experience for patients eligible for pancreatic cancer surgery. About 8.5% of patients with this type of cancer will live beyond five years after diagnosis.
The Client
The client is an east coast consulting firm focused on supporting the integration of innovative technologies and services. I collaborated with Dean Hovey for this project.
Goal - One Project, Two Audiences
Patient Goal: Reduce post-operative incidents including a return to the hospital. Improve the overall patient experience with education and communication so patients feel more in control of their health.
Provider Goal: Improve patient compliance within post-operative care. Streamline communication between provider and patient. Reduce internal workflow inefficiencies and redundancies so provider can treat more patients.
While this project was not funded to increase revenue, it was the intent of the provider to make internal improvements that would lead to caring for more patients and additional revenues.
Outcome
Highly successful project with a patient compliance rate of over 70%. My team designed a patient and provider application that facilitated communications and featured multiple improved provider workflows and business processes. The solution was built to be scaled and commercialized for other cancer care settings. The prototype was built despite not featuring professional graphic design elements.
My Contribution
In my role as UX Designer, I designed all of the screens for this application.
My research and input led to the design of a new internal process which included automation for image tracking. With this process, the surgery team became more efficient and freed up time for other tasks.
I also produced all of the content for the app which was later used in the clinical study and this directly tied to the success of the clinical study and overall project.
My Role
Service designer, experience designer, researcher, clinical study lead
Skills
Research, interaction design, project management, critical thinking, attention to detail, empathy, collaboration, stakeholder management
Service designer, experience designer, researcher, clinical study lead
Skills
Research, interaction design, project management, critical thinking, attention to detail, empathy, collaboration, stakeholder management
Methodology
Agile, Design Thinking, Human Centered Design, Behavioral Psychology
Agile, Design Thinking, Human Centered Design, Behavioral Psychology
Process
In-depth interviews, service design business model canvas, journey map, storyboard, prototype, clinical study report
In-depth interviews, service design business model canvas, journey map, storyboard, prototype, clinical study report
Tools
Figma, Sketch, Principle, Teams, Photoshop
Figma, Sketch, Principle, Teams, Photoshop
Year
2020-2021
2020-2021
Research (Patient and Provider)
Extensive one-on-one interviews* (2+ hours each) was conducted to understand the patient experience before, during and after pancreatic cancer surgery. Approximately 12 patients were interviewed during a semi-structured session.
Additional research was conducted with the medical team, first as a group journey-mapping workshop and later as one-on-one interviews.
Research Goals:
1. Understand patient behaviors, motivations, pain points and overall patient experience before, during and after surgery.
2. Understand medical team internal pain points and workflow inefficiencies.
3. Understand the complete patient journey and medical staff journey including when/how these intersect.
2. Understand medical team internal pain points and workflow inefficiencies.
3. Understand the complete patient journey and medical staff journey including when/how these intersect.
*These interviews required HIPPA Compliance training.
Patient Journey Map
My team used the research to build a patient clinical journey that followed the patient through the experience before, during, and after pancreatic cancer surgery. This included the following stages:
1. Referral
2. Intake
3. First Clinic Visit
4. Care Path Decision
5. Preoperative Care
6. Surgery
7. Postoperative Care
8. On-going Follow-up
2. Intake
3. First Clinic Visit
4. Care Path Decision
5. Preoperative Care
6. Surgery
7. Postoperative Care
8. On-going Follow-up
The (final) patient clinical Journey Map (above) highlighted the areas where technology could be used to improve the patient journey.
Provider Journey Map
Below is the journey map created for the nurse assistant responsible for tracking images leading up the appointment with the surgeon.
Provider Service Blueprint
The provider team spent consider time fetching and preparing the images for the appointment with the surgeon. The team dedicated one full-time employee to fetching these images. The process was very time consuming and extremely inefficient. I created the blow service blueprint focused on stage 3 and 4.
Rapid Prototyping
My team utilized an iterative approach for rapid prototyping (agile) to build two mobile and web responsive applications with many integrated rounds of user testing. We built the solution using React Native in 10 sprints.
I created some general UX designs to guide the prototyping.
Clinical Study (User Testing)
We used the prototype to conduct a clinical trial to show efficacy results. We enlisted 24 patients and 5 medical staff to participate in the clinical study. The study consisted of one-on-one zoom interviews and a 20 question online survey. The study was very successful with a patient compliance rate of 70%.
Challenges/Key Learnings
This project required endless empathy as the patients were extremely ill facing a low chance of survival. Rescheduling appointments and delays were common during the clinical study and often my team faced their own bouts of sadness.
The clinical staff at times experienced resistance to changing internal workflows and unexpectedly were more comfortable using clunky, out-dated software vs newer, easier technology.
The team/stakeholders working on this project was very large and at times it was difficult to stay focused. Sometimes the varying personalities were a challenge and overcoming this required extra one-on-one to replace large meetings that were unproductive. Relationship building was key.
