is there
a better way to
make a patient feel better

summary of the UMCU research project

Within th e UMC Utrecht was a need to understand the opportunities to improve their reception and services in order to determine whether this is a positive influence on the course of the diagnostic and treatment process. Scope investigated whether the effects of discomfort or stress can be reduced, especially for visitors to the outpatient clinics, by better supporting patients in their needs when entering the hospital and staying in waiting areas . 

The needs of the patient group have been identified through the development of various 'Persona' and a 'Contextmapping study'. Ultimately, Scope designed both easily realizable and more radical (partial) solutions for the interaction with and facilities for patients in the reception hall and waiting areas in the UMCU. 

Perception Hospitality

The University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU) wants to investigate how it can improve its hospitality with Service Design Thinking and also increase the quality of service in the newly planned reception area. This reception area is most often used by visitors to the outpatient clinic . 

Research has shown that patients who are not at ease or who are too stressed often do not have an optimal diagnosis and treatment process. Scope for Design was the question: Is this also in out - visit the event? Z o yes, we can Customer Journey designs vermind ert this effect by p ati ë to support patients and their individual needs in the entrance area of the UMCU? 

Needs of patients central

Based on UMCU data about its patients, four P's ersona developed that allow the patient central to the rest of the project and representative of different user groups of the University Medical Center Utrecht. They provide a good representation of their personal story and describe their attitude and mentality.

T he four P's ersona help both Scope and UMCU to indulge in the world of the patient to live and represent the patient demographic and statistical manner. In this way, they form an important guiding principle for how products or services should be designed based on the different types. 

Context mapping and physiological research

After this Scope Co ntextmapping investigation started getting to know the mind of this patient group.

Successively a telephone interview was conducted in 13 patients and asked them a diary (P robe) to fill. P robe contains specific commands that provide more insight into one thought, ideas and expectations of the patients in their hospital visit. These people were then received during a follow-up visit to an outpatient clinic and observed during their tour of the hospital. A follow-up meeting ensured that all collected information could be supplemented where necessary. 

 

DATA COLLECTION

This is combined with observations during the hospital visit (excl. The conversation with the doctor) and (in some patients) physiological stress measurement in which we learned that Touchpoints the Customer Journey yield stress n. Very extensive data is collected from these 13 patients in this way , enabling Scope to get to know the world of thought of these patients better. In order to understand the needs. 

To combine of the data

The data of the respondents is translated by the design team into St atement C ards and clustered. Ultimately, three latent needs are distilled from this: 

A. Need to control the process 

B. Need for a sense of security through a predictable structure 

C. Need an appropriate personal approach 

Because this needs to be combined with the developed by P ersona's Scope e developed a rich description of how populations experience their full Customer J ourney. 

SOLUTIONS NEEDS

The requirements were then translated into a wide range of partial solutions for the interaction with and facilities for patients in the UMCU in the reception hall and waiting areas. For this, Scope designed practical short-term solutions as well as solutions with more implementation consequences.