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HealthbyDesign

HealthbyDesign  



︎  ︎Redefining the Point of Entry: Heal as You Wait


We want to re-innovate the first point of entry in primary care facilities. Taking the waiting room out of the picture, and implementing spaces that promote healing.
By Dureti Ahmed  ︎ , Devin Chaldecott  ︎, Dua Duran ︎, Prakriti Vasudeva  ︎






Why
Healthcare and care accessibility are extremely critical acts of service for communities, the first point of entry both in the physical and digital realm are often isolating and claustrophobic spaces that produce feelings of anxiety, uncertainty, stress, and unproductivity. These suffocating environments do not cater to the health and well being of patients and users who are searching for personalized care. As it stands, waiting rooms increase stress and produce feelings of intimidation around going into primary care visits. According to CapeCod Health, 63% of Americans admit they have waiting room anxiety and state that “the most stressful thing about going to their doctor was sitting in the waiting room.”

How
By intervening in both the physical and digital realm, we can offer opportunities for new points of influence for the waiting room experience that reduces patient anxieties, nurtures productive states of mind, will make the health care and waiting experience less intimidating and more familiar, and allow calm and soothing emotions overall.


What
Our app Helping Hand- will bridge the gap between patients and providers, and offers resources about scheduling, will request that you fill out pre- visit questionnaires about your health and well being as well as your personal interests in order to personalize your digital waiting room space and save time before meeting your doctor, provides information about the process of  digital and physical appointments, keeps you updated on your patient wait status, and provides links to positive distractions such as healing spaces within and outside of the primary care space that can help reduce patient anxiety significantly. If a patient decides to select a digital appointment option, the app will send you a link to a digital waiting space that is extremely personalized to your likes and interests based on the answers you provided in the pre-visit questionnaire. These personalizations include the website background being your favorite color, and the option to watch your favorite netflix show, movie, or meditation videos in order to make patients feel comfortable, safe, and cared for. This playful and interactive method of engaging with patients will promote a sense of calm and establish personalization that positively distracts them during this anxious and uncertain period. If you choose the physical appointment option, the physical waiting space includes healing and stress relieving programs such as gardens, open reading spaces, and exercise centers that allows for independent and autonomous movement, and keeps patients preoccupied and productive in environments that have been proven through research to be inherently therapeutic and inviting. The healing programs can also be accessed by different members of the community who aren't visiting strictly for primary care.




So What
By making the waiting room experience more familiar, inviting, and stress relieving, patients would feel more comfortable entering healthcare spaces and having more communication with their doctor overall. When the waiting room space is as familiar and close to home as opening up your laptop and watching your favorite show, or as stress relieving as walking through a garden and entering quiet space of a public reading area– the entry point and process of primary care will feel very safe and nurturing and would encourage and support people to reach out to their doctor. It's important to take care of patients through every step in the process, and it's vital to recognize how the first step in that process, and the amount of stress that that induces, could affect the rest of the health care process. With our project, we are taking care of our patients right from the beginning.



Design To Outcomes
We are designing waiting spaces that promote healing, safety, and familiarity. Improving patient experience/feelings in the waiting space, with the implementation of meditation, other positive distracting activities, and personalization tactics. We hope to better the readiness of patients and the entire visit overall. All while, redefining the point of entry so that the initial entry to a primary care visit no longer looks like a waiting room.



Links to Follow:
    ︎︎︎Two Page Report
    ︎︎︎Miro Board
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Works Cited

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Mark