O² Homecare: Enhancing Connection, Efficiency, Involvement, and Agency in Healthcare
by Marie Spreitzer, Ran He & Hao Zheng
Meet O² Homecare
In the fast-paced world of healthcare, where time is often scarce, and the demands are high, striking a balance between providing quality medical care and fostering personal connections can be a significant challenge. As designers, we embarked on a journey to address this challenge and create a solution that enhances the experiences of patients, nurses, and their loved ones. Our project, O² Homecare, is an innovative concept that aims to transform home healthcare delivery, focusing on values such as connection, efficiency, involvement, and agency.
Conducting Ethnographic Field Work
To kickoff our project, we spent a week in Stockholm engaging with various healthcare professionals getting to know their daily work routine. Read more about it here:
Understanding the Values Behind “Health” and “Care”
To embark on our design journey, we reflected on our impressions from our field trip to Stockholm, where we gathered valuable insights and observations. We realized that our initial focus had been primarily on the medical professional’s perspective. Taking a step back, we delved deeper into the meaning of the word “healthcare”. Since the word consists of “health” and “care”, we looked more into what those words actually mean to the people involved in the system backed up by our data. We discovered that “health” embodies efficiency and safety, while “care” encompasses connection, involvement, and agency. These five values formed the foundation of our design process and the principles we aimed to embody.
Putting People at the Center
To gain a comprehensive understanding of the challenges faced by patients, nurses, and their networks, we took the tangible personas we identified during the stakeholder workshop. We placed them at the center of our design process. We wanted to grasp their environments and the broader context in which they interacted with their support networks. Creating a relationship map allowed us to map out who communicates with whom and how this connection looks like. based on this, we identify areas where communication was lacking or limited, highlighting the potential for strengthening certain relationships.
Identifying Key Questions
Taking note of the different areas that emerged from our exploration, we grouped them into themes. We selected two specific challenges to address further:
>> How might we center the home-visits from nurses to patients around personal connection?
>> How might we remind patients to take their medication and ensure that they do without a medical staff physically present?
The Tension Between “Care” and “Health”
To curate answers to those big questions, we looked back at our design principles and noticed a distinct tension between “care” and “health.”
On the one hand, nurses provided immense care, sharing laughter with patients, sometimes acting as their only social contact & building solid relationships with relatives.
On the other hand, these visits needed to be efficient, allowing nurses to reach as many patients as possible while ensuring optimal medical care.
We confirmed this tension when consulting with healthcare professionals, who expressed their desire to connect with patients while always fighting against time. It became clear to us that there is always a specific amount of time available, and the nurses could either spend it connecting to their patients or fulfilling the medical tasks.
Making time for Connection
Recognizing the challenge presented by how the time during the home-visit is used, we saw an opportunity to leverage technology and enhance the moments of personal connection between patients, nurses, and their relatives during home visits.
We want to make time for personal connection between the patient, the nurse and the relatives during a home visit by automating mundane medical tasks.
O² Homecare
This led us to develop our conceptual proposal for O² Homecare.
O² Homecare comprises five interconnected products designed to automate mundane medical tasks and streamline communication:
Smartwatch
A smartwatch for patients to track and record their medical data like blood pressure, pulse, activity level & sleep.
Home hub
A home hub with three primary purposes: storing medical information, enabling consensus-building through touch interactions, and sending medical reports and visit summaries to relatives.
Tablet
A tablet for nurses, facilitating easy documentation of medical information during home visits.
Mobile App
A mobile app for relatives, enabling them to stay connected with both patients and nurses, receive updates and engage in the visit routine.
Pillbox
A pillbox that reminds patients to take their medication at the prescribed times, promoting self-care and independence.
Promoting Values through Design
As designers, our focus extends beyond aesthetic details. It is the values behind the design that truly matter. Throughout the development of O² Homecare, we were committed to promoting four essential values: connection, efficiency, involvement, and agency.
Connection
O² Homecare fosters a medical and personal connection between patients and nurses. Patients are prepared for their visits through visual prompts on the home hub. They can engage in meaningful conversations with their healthcare providers.
Efficiency
O² Homecare streamlines the completion of routine medical tasks, allowing nurses to maintain quality care while creating more time for building personal connections. The smartwatch and tablet automate data transfer, facilitating comprehensive discussions based on the patient’s physical and mental condition.
Involvement
O² Homecare promotes involvement for patients and their relatives, bridging the gap that often exists between them and the healthcare system. Summaries and reports can be shared with relatives, triggering conversations and enabling them to stay informed and engaged in the patient’s journey.
Agency
O² Homecare empowers patients to take charge of their healthcare independently and with dignity. The pillbox reminds patients to take their medication, allowing them to actively manage their healthcare routines.
Challenging Assumptions and Navigating Realities
As we reflect critically on our project, we must challenge the assumptions based on our design proposal.
🏥 Firstly, we assume that the healthcare system will allocate the necessary funds to establish the product and technological infrastructure required for our system to operate effectively. Additionally, the healthcare system acknowledges the value and importance of fostering care. However, the reality is that budgetary constraints and competing priorities within the healthcare system may pose challenges to implementing our vision.
🦻 Another assumption we make relates to accessibility. We assume that patients possess the cognitive and physical ability to interact with the home hub and other devices, comprehending the information conveyed and actively participating in consent interactions. However, some patients may need help with their engagement with the technology, potentially hindering the full realization of our intended benefits.
💻 Regarding technology, we approach the project with a sense of “tech-optimism,” assuming all stakeholders embrace technology, mainly using a smartwatch for data tracking. We hope that automation will seamlessly integrate into the background, freeing time for meaningful interactions. However, it is crucial to recognize that attitudes towards technology can vary, and there may be resistance or challenges in adoption, requiring careful consideration and support during implementation.
🫶 Furthermore, our assumption regarding connection revolves around the notion that patients have an active social support system with whom they actively engage and receive feedback. However, this may only sometimes be the case, as some patients may face isolation or need a robust support network, potentially affecting the intended benefits of fostering connection.
⚡️ Lastly, we assume that the shift within the healthcare system from prioritizing medical tasks to emphasizing personal connections is widely welcomed and acknowledged by all parties involved. While our intentions are rooted in enhancing patient care, it is crucial to recognize that systemic and cultural shifts can encounter resistance or require significant effort to gain acceptance and implementation on a broader scale.
Our Vision for Meaningful Care
In healthcare, where time constraints often hinder personal connections, O² Homecare strives to create a harmonious balance between efficiency and care. O² Homecare aims to transform the home healthcare experience for patients, nurses, and loved ones by leveraging technology and focusing on values such as connection, efficiency, involvement, and agency. Through this innovative solution, we aspire to enhance the quality of care, promote active patient participation, and foster meaningful connections that transcend the boundaries of traditional healthcare.
This project aims not to provide a definitive solution to the challenges at hand but to shed light on the opportunities we have discovered and showcase the research conducted. We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with remarkable and compassionate individuals in the healthcare sector. Through design, our goal is to make a genuine and positive impact, recognizing the importance of the work being done by these dedicated professionals. By highlighting the values and principles we have embraced, we aspire to contribute to the ongoing conversation surrounding healthcare and inspire further innovation in the field.
