May Mallahzadeh ⏤ 2024
May Mallahzadeh ⏤ 2024
How Can We Heal our Broken Healthcare System?
How Can We Heal our Broken Healthcare System?
Healthcare has made tremendous advancements in drug development and clinical training over the last century, extending and saving countless lives. Scientific progress has transformed our approach to health, shifting the focus from merely the absence of disease to the ability of patients to adapt and self-manage. This paradigm shift has significantly influenced how professionals, patients, and the public perceive 'health'. (Huber et al., 2011).
By this contemporary definition, healthcare should be a positive and empowering experience for patients, caregivers, and clinicians. However, reality often falls short of this ideal. Healthcare challenges are frequently characterized by ambiguity and uncertainty. This ambiguity stems from our failure to fully embrace the art of listening and the importance of asking better questions, acknowledging the value of both qualitative insight and quantitative evidence.
Currently, the evaluation of healthcare experiences relies heavily on patient experience surveys, such as the CAHPS (Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) and HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) surveys. While these tools are useful, they may not fully capture the depth of understanding and listening required. As Dr. Larry Chu suggests, the practice of medicine depends on how we handle and think with data. The way we manage data shapes our thinking, and the structure of the data determines the quality of our outcomes.
Health communities have emerged on social media platforms because the existing healthcare system often falls short for many individuals. These platforms provide a space for people to share their voices, stories, unmet needs, and even solutions when the healthcare system leaves them feeling disconnected. The sense of belonging these communities offer is crucial, allowing individuals to express their challenges, seek support, and realize they are not alone in their struggles.
Today's emerging patient-centered health movement goes beyond focusing on specific conditions or demographics. Instead, it aims to rebalance power dynamics and facilitate access to information, empowering individuals to drive decision-making in healthcare for better health outcomes. Social media plays a pivotal role in fostering innovation in patient-centered healthcare by not only serving as an information source but also as a platform for patients to curate and share information.
Patients are no longer accepting a passive role within the healthcare system; instead, they are becoming active participants in their own health journeys. This shift signifies a departure from adapting to the healthcare system towards actively challenging and reshaping it. As a result, patients are not only seeking information but actively creating and sharing it. This transformation creates a new ecosystem of engagement, capable of disrupting the current healthcare system.
As articulated by one of my interviewees, an experienced professional with a long history in the healthcare system, the system primarily revolves around two core focuses: financial considerations and patient experience as the key evaluation criteria. Dr. Larry Chu emphasizes the necessity to support consumerism and amplify the voices of end users. This perspective aligns with how the healthcare system operates, adopting a mindset of buying, selling, and delivering services to patients as consumers.
Transitioning from this transactional mindset to viewing patients’ and even providers' voices as equals in influencing healthcare decisions is a significant shift that requires a comprehensive reevaluation. Currently, the healthcare system operates as if it is merely listening to talk, rather than listening to understand and respond. Achieving a healthcare system where the voices of patients, providers, researchers, and authorities are regarded as equals necessitates a substantial journey that lies ahead.
As a designer with a background in industrial design, I learned a key aspect of the design process has always been the inclusion of end users and consumers in the development of products, goods, or services. Applying a similar mindset to the healthcare system, considering patients as users and consumers, underscores the importance of including them in the design and improvement process. Despite treating healthcare as an industry, it's interesting that we don't leverage patients as a competitive advantage or strategic partners, considering they are closest to the problems we aim to solve.
This observation raises questions about why, in the healthcare industry, where the ultimate goal is health, there isn't a stronger motivation to continually enhance and innovate products. Users, in this case, patients, often have no choice but to use what is covered by their health insurance, which may contribute to a lack of sufficient motivation to improve products that may not be working optimally.
Dr. Joyce Lee, with experience as a healthcare provider, recognized a gap in the meaningful involvement of both patients and providers in the healthcare system. To address this, she delved into the study of design, exploring how design can contribute to patients' and providers' involvement. I want to highlight her observation about the current state of healthcare culture and systems in the figure 2, which appears to be quite accurate
Healthcare has made tremendous advancements in drug development and clinical training over the last century, extending and saving countless lives. Scientific progress has transformed our approach to health, shifting the focus from merely the absence of disease to the ability of patients to adapt and self-manage. This paradigm shift has significantly influenced how professionals, patients, and the public perceive 'health'. (Huber et al., 2011).
By this contemporary definition, healthcare should be a positive and empowering experience for patients, caregivers, and clinicians. However, reality often falls short of this ideal. Healthcare challenges are frequently characterized by ambiguity and uncertainty. This ambiguity stems from our failure to fully embrace the art of listening and the importance of asking better questions, acknowledging the value of both qualitative insight and quantitative evidence.
Currently, the evaluation of healthcare experiences relies heavily on patient experience surveys, such as the CAHPS (Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) and HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) surveys. While these tools are useful, they may not fully capture the depth of understanding and listening required. As Dr. Larry Chu suggests, the practice of medicine depends on how we handle and think with data. The way we manage data shapes our thinking, and the structure of the data determines the quality of our outcomes.
Health communities have emerged on social media platforms because the existing healthcare system often falls short for many individuals. These platforms provide a space for people to share their voices, stories, unmet needs, and even solutions when the healthcare system leaves them feeling disconnected. The sense of belonging these communities offer is crucial, allowing individuals to express their challenges, seek support, and realize they are not alone in their struggles.
Today's emerging patient-centered health movement goes beyond focusing on specific conditions or demographics. Instead, it aims to rebalance power dynamics and facilitate access to information, empowering individuals to drive decision-making in healthcare for better health outcomes. Social media plays a pivotal role in fostering innovation in patient-centered healthcare by not only serving as an information source but also as a platform for patients to curate and share information.
Patients are no longer accepting a passive role within the healthcare system; instead, they are becoming active participants in their own health journeys. This shift signifies a departure from adapting to the healthcare system towards actively challenging and reshaping it. As a result, patients are not only seeking information but actively creating and sharing it. This transformation creates a new ecosystem of engagement, capable of disrupting the current healthcare system.
As articulated by one of my interviewees, an experienced professional with a long history in the healthcare system, the system primarily revolves around two core focuses: financial considerations and patient experience as the key evaluation criteria. Dr. Larry Chu emphasizes the necessity to support consumerism and amplify the voices of end users. This perspective aligns with how the healthcare system operates, adopting a mindset of buying, selling, and delivering services to patients as consumers.
Transitioning from this transactional mindset to viewing patients’ and even providers' voices as equals in influencing healthcare decisions is a significant shift that requires a comprehensive reevaluation. Currently, the healthcare system operates as if it is merely listening to talk, rather than listening to understand and respond. Achieving a healthcare system where the voices of patients, providers, researchers, and authorities are regarded as equals necessitates a substantial journey that lies ahead.
As a designer with a background in industrial design, I learned a key aspect of the design process has always been the inclusion of end users and consumers in the development of products, goods, or services. Applying a similar mindset to the healthcare system, considering patients as users and consumers, underscores the importance of including them in the design and improvement process. Despite treating healthcare as an industry, it's interesting that we don't leverage patients as a competitive advantage or strategic partners, considering they are closest to the problems we aim to solve.
This observation raises questions about why, in the healthcare industry, where the ultimate goal is health, there isn't a stronger motivation to continually enhance and innovate products. Users, in this case, patients, often have no choice but to use what is covered by their health insurance, which may contribute to a lack of sufficient motivation to improve products that may not be working optimally.
Dr. Joyce Lee, with experience as a healthcare provider, recognized a gap in the meaningful involvement of both patients and providers in the healthcare system. To address this, she delved into the study of design, exploring how design can contribute to patients' and providers' involvement. I want to highlight her observation about the current state of healthcare culture and systems in the figure 2, which appears to be quite accurate
The central question is how we can transition from merely collecting data from patients toward genuinely inviting them to contribute ideas about the devices, treatments, experiences, and services they use or want to use? While information often circulates around patients, are they truly seen as partners in design and learning? How can we first recognize the user, positioning patients and providers at the center of our work, and then shift our mindset to see them as co-creators?
Creating a space where individuals with diverse lived experiences can freely share their most challenging stories is crucial. These stories hold intrinsic value and should not be reduced to quantitative data, especially in the sensitive domain of healthcare.
Over the past decade, a significant question has echoed in many discussions: How can we heal our broken healthcare system? I believe the answer lies in asking the right people at the right time and truly listening to what they share with us and what they have already shared with each other through various channels.
The central question is how we can transition from merely collecting data from patients toward genuinely inviting them to contribute ideas about the devices, treatments, experiences, and services they use or want to use? While information often circulates around patients, are they truly seen as partners in design and learning? How can we first recognize the user, positioning patients and providers at the center of our work, and then shift our mindset to see them as co-creators?
Creating a space where individuals with diverse lived experiences can freely share their most challenging stories is crucial. These stories hold intrinsic value and should not be reduced to quantitative data, especially in the sensitive domain of healthcare.
Over the past decade, a significant question has echoed in many discussions: How can we heal our broken healthcare system? I believe the answer lies in asking the right people at the right time and truly listening to what they share with us and what they have already shared with each other through various channels.