Background
The Elderly Hospital of Curitiba in Brazil (Hospital do Idoso Zilda Arns) had a series of issues that were negatively affecting the experience of their patients yet weren’t known by the hospital directors. They didn’t know where the problems were or where to begin in order to improve the service provided.
Task
To support decision-making, this project identified and mapped all pain points elders had when attending emergency or regular appointments at the Hospital. The aim of this work was to deliver solutions to guide the hospital on how to improve the experience of patients by using the current investment more effectively.
Role and approach
Patients, doctors, nurses, and caregivers were involved from the research stage and worked together in co-creation and prototyping workshops to design a better service offer.
I led all stages of this project:
Planning and conducting user research through shadowing, interviewing and focus groups
Translating research findings into guidance for service improvement
Designing customer journey maps and service blueprints
Facilitating co-creating and prototyping workshops with various user groups
Producing visually appealing reports
Presenting suggestions to the Hospital staff and board of directors
Throughout the process, more than 10 service design tools were used. The combination of quantitative and qualitative methods allowed me to identify and validate opportunities for improvement and how to prioritise them.
Results
The result of this work is focused on providing information and emotional engagement to the patients.
The ideal service journey has been identified and an action plan including 42 challenges and their solutions, organised by short, medium, and long term was delivered.
This work brought user-centred guidance to improve the service and increase the satisfaction of patients. It also provided strong data evidence for the organisation to attract bigger investments and new partnerships.
This project was a finalist on the Student Service Design Network Awards of 2017.
