Screening and self-monitoring system for diabetic patients in primary care services across country.
UX research / Service design
Non-communicable diseases claim 41 million lives in a year.
In this project we focus on Diabetes and symptoms caused by high blood pressure levels which highly related to behaviours, lack and living environment, which lead to many more severe health issues. The collaborative project aim to implement service design and human-centred design approach in the primary healthcare system, enhancing the clinical experience for patients and staff, throughout reduce the growing rates of NCDs patients in Thailand’s rural areas.
⏐ APPROACH
Patient-centric : Collaborate with medical staff and stakeholders in building a deep understanding and actionable solutions that focus on patient’s needs.
Holistic : Conduct in-depth research to understand the ecosystem, identify the right opportunity areas considering the complexity and dimensions of the problem.
Preventative : Emphasise on early interventions and behavioural change to solve the problem systemically and to ensure sustainable impact.
⏐ FINDINGS
The current capacity and operation model of the primary healthcare service are not compatible for the growing service demand. Staff are overworked, the system is inefficient and the patients are not being involved in their own care plan.
From in-depth research we found that there is a significant drop-off rate in receiving constant medical treatments right after one’s first diagnosis, leading to further severe complications which require more time, effort, and resource to treat from a systemic view.
A current correlation between levels of severity and estimated efforts and resources spent.
Primary & Secondary target groups and associated health risks, retrieved from statistic records.
Persona profile, illustrating demographic, psychographic, and behavioural segments.
Existing journey of a general primary care service for new patients.
The Problem Landscape
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Bad clinical Experience
Due to poor service standard and attention received from the doctors and staff.
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Inapplicable care plan
Due to the lack of relatable and applicable advice and incentives to change.
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Inadequate health literacy
Due to limited access to health advice and public information around NCDs
⏐ KEY STRATEGY
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Building a more effective and actionable care plan from personal data and specifications acquired from question bonding tools.
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Create a self-monitoring system and tools for diabetic patients based on behavioural change model, allowing them to have authority on their health improvement journey.
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Shifting systemic efforts and resources towards a preventive model, focusing more on early interventions and long-term literacy building.
⏐ PROTOTYPE
We facilitated 4 week prototype sessions with recruited participants from service partners across the country, testing different features and steps of the service from question-bonding tools to interactive chatbot that allows patients to submit their daily entry (food diary, blood sugar level, etc.) and receive personalised prompts.
⏐ SERVICE IDEA
The NCDx toolkit cover every steps from patient screening to self-monitoring, presented through 3 main touchpoints.
Interactive question bonding tool helps standardise the screening process, gathers personal data & requirements of each patient, plus shortens the amount of time spent on the screening process.
Personalised care plan customises health suggestions and lifestyle modification plan for each patient.
Official chatbot acts as a friendly assistant that collates daily prompts and check-ups for self-monitoring journey as a key channel between service provider and patient.
The service blueprints and project summary report were delivered along with implementation roadmap for the commissioner, as part of a preventive healthcare strategic roadmap.
Personal reflections
Collaborating with staff and different partners was a key to this project’s success. Domain knowledge from nutritionist, behavioural scientist and medical staff helped us a lot in crafting a meaningful intervention that could actually lead to long-term behavioural change which is an ultimatum for preventive healthcare.
Feedback from Medical staff, Primary care service