Designing for Health: Interview with Mark Townsend, MD
The innovation of technology and processes inherently requires not only trial and error but a non-negligible amount of risk. This presents a unique challenge for the healthcare industry, which both needs innovation and has very little room for risk or error. To move the industry into the future, leaders must adopt a nuanced approach that simultaneously appreciates governance and its goals and is willing to take calculated risks to fail fast and fail forward.  On today’s episode of […]
Designing for Health: Interview with Gary Kaplan, MD
Overhauling the patient experience can be one of the most challenging hurdles that a health system can undertake. Honoring the work that clinicians have done in the past, while also gaining buy-in for future transformation can be a very small needle to thread. Despite the difficulties that come with a top to bottom transformation of a health system, it can often lead to better outcomes for every […]
Designing for Health: Interview with David Butler, MD
A health system’s medical record transition, whether from ‘paper to pixels’ or to a new digital solution, can sometimes be a challenging journey. Technology or software can be well-designed, yet still not meet the needs of a every user. One of the keys to a successful implementation is ensuring that customized workflows and designs exist for the wide variety of clinicians that interact with it daily. While allowing customization is vital to ensure buy-in from key stakeholders, giving too […]
Designing for Health: Interview with Kevin Dufendach, MD and Andy Spooner, MD
Pediatricians are some of the most meticulous clinical professionals, and for good reason. The tiniest error in a NICU or PICU can have massive implications for a patient. This detail-oriented mindset often leads pediatricians to gravitate toward clinical informatics, as the same outlook applies to the world of electronic health records (EHR) and clinical data. In today’s data-driven environment, nothing exists outside the EHR, so how can pediatricians and other […]
Designing for Health: Interview with Tricia Baird, MD
The mission and vision for primary care physicians and other clinical personnel is to leverage data and modern solutions to craft holistic care plans for individual patients. Patient care plans are never black and white. A patient’s ability to pay for necessary medications or whether they have transportation to and from an appointment can make them deviate from a standardized care plan, affecting their outcome. Timely, targeted, and actionable interventions using a care coordination model that leverages whole-person design can help that patient […]
Designing for Health: Interview with CT Lin, MD, Liz Salmi, and Bryan Steitz, PhD
Conventional wisdom once held that a long wait for test results was acceptable, provided that the results were eventually provided by the primary care physician. That long-held belief is now changing, as emerging research shows that patients want faster results and more transparency. This research, combined with updated federal regulations, is leading to more patient autonomy. Transparency can also free up administrative burden, allowing […]
Designing for Health: Interview with Karim Jessa, MD
Much like the syrup that flows from its majestic maple trees, the pace of digital adoption in the Canadian healthcare space has been more gradual than in the U.S. While the push for electronic health records (EHRs) in the U.S. was fueled by the federal government’s enactment of the HITECH Act in 2009, Canadian hospitals […]
Designing for Health: Interview with John Whalen, PHD
When it comes to human-centered design, we aren’t left guessing what might or might not work for the end user. The field of cognitive psychology offers rich insights into the way people think, feel, interact with, and make decisions within the environments in which they move. This research, combined with real-world observations, gives healthcare organizations insights into how to design experiences for caregivers and patients, as well […]
Designing for Health: Interview with Adam Wright, MD
Without open feedback from end users, any implementation will fall short of its full potential. The implementation of clinical decision support tools is no exception. Hands-on interaction with the intended audience will avoid designing for a theoretical user, not real humans using the tool. Designing with people in mind without falling prey to design-by-committee is challenging, but […]