Improving mental health care through technology integration.
Service Design, Interior Design, Healthcare DesignJune 2018 - September 2018
Before:
My Responsibilities: Designing patient experience in clinic, blueprinting patient visit, setting up each room in the clinic, creating marketing materials
Deliverables: Patient visit blueprint, fully functional clinic space, monthly newsletters, flyer campaigns
Overview
I interned with a mental health startup, Foresight, which found its start as software which used data from genetic testing to improve the way psychiatrists prescribe meditations. Foresight had expanded its mission to leverage a variety of technological tools to improve mental healthcare, and were in the process of opening their first clinic space.
I led the design of the space, from service design and technological integration to interior design and decorating.
Opportunity
When I arrived at Foresight, there were tarps on the ground, baseboards were out of place, and the walls were fresh with paint. I was told we had a week and a half until our first patients were coming in.
The clinic was not the product that Foresight was marketing or primarily delivering, but rather a method for them to test their predictive software and a mode of introducing their product to the market. This meant that I was given the freedom to design the service being delivered to the patients from end to end, as long as I worked within the constraints of the company.
My primary responsibility was designing the patient experience throughout the clinic. This included:
Shaping patient experience by drafting and enacting tailored plans for each room in the clinic.
Integrating proprietary prescription software and other tech devices into multiple exam rooms.
Designing and distributing patient recruitment material.
Determining FlowProcess
My first priority was determining the flow of a patient’s visit given the constraints of the layout of the clinic. The next step was doing the nitty gritty work necessary to enact these plans. That included painting the walls, furnishing rooms, deciding on what Healthcare IT services were best to use, as well as setting up digital check-in for patients.
I started by blueprinting the appointment flow, and then mapped that flow onto the floor plan.
Room DesignOnce the patient journey map and clinic floor plan were unified and the purpose of each room was set, we began identifying the users’ needs for each room. From those identified needs we then began purchasing supplies, painting, and furnishing the rooms.
Impact
After:
While the options for each room were boundless, there were significant restrictions to consider. As a startup, the budget and additional resources for the project were limited. Because we were leasing the clinic space, there was only so much remodeling we could do. Finally, insurance companies required us to ensure that every room was HIPAA compliant.
The nature of working daily in the clinic space allowed for an iterative, cyclical design process: researching clinical set-ups, implementing a change, and then observing patient interaction with the new space. The results fed back into the loop and motivated an even more refined patient experience.
Graphic DesignIn my time at Foresight, I also handled the graphic design for their business materials. I designed business cards for their clinicians and employees, and created posters for the clinic.
When I finished my summer at Foresight, I left having had my first taste of Service Design and working within Healthcare. The ability to do rapid iteration on user research and see the first hand impact of these services was foundational in my growth as an empathetic designer dedicated to making a noticeable impact. While the startup nature of the work limited some of the research capabilities in making decisions, it also presented me with the opportunity to see the impact of my designs first hand, and ultimately design a service I am very proud of.