To find the root cause of patient issues, like missed appointments, providers must drill down into their experiences. One way to address these individual concerns is via a “design thinking” approach, experts suggest.
A hospital using this approach would identify an issue, like no-shows, and then assign a multidisciplinary task force to study it, getting a more complete picture of the patients’ experiences, according to an article in the Harvard Business Review penned by a team from Johns Hopkins. With a more complete view, the task force can then brainstorm solutions and begin piloting potential prototype programs.
Surveys and online reviews may not give the true story of a patient’s living situation and other factors that may impact their healthcare.
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Some hospitals have already found success using the design thinking model, according to the article. For example, Mayo Clinic transformed its prenatal clinic to create a greater sense of community among expectant mothers, a program that ultimately made the new moms feel more informed and empowered. Johns Hopkins Hospital applied design thinking to develop a patient coaching program that better addresses the concerns of individual patients.
The emergency department is a perfect example of an area where design thinking could improve the experience, according to the article. Patients and families often spend long hours waiting for care in the ER, so a design thinking approach could spur changes that make the experience feel safer and more comfortable.
“It’s every healthcare leader’s mission to improve patient experiences,” the authors wrote. “Design thinking is a useful process for doing so, as it requires decision-makers to empathize with patients, think creatively, prototype and continually test solutions to these problems.”
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Research suggests that investing in improvements to patients’ experiences can pay off in clinical quality as well. It has been linked directly to patient safety, and a recent study found that hospitals with higher patient experience scores performed better on certain clinical quality measures.