This was an academic research project for a capstone MBA class called 'Design in Management: Concepts, Methods of Practice and Products' at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University. It addresses the area of patient experience and was a joint collaboration between Weatherhead and the Office of Patient Experience at Cleveland Clinic. Out of the many dimensions and moments of patient experience, our project focused on the issue of doctor-to-patient interaction during the discharge phase.
How did you learn that you had been recognized by the jury? I received an email a few days before the deliberation stating that the announcement was going to be made online.
What's the latest news or development with your project? It was an academic research project so the formal engagement ended when the project finished. However, it has laid the groundwork for further collaboration between the Weatherhead School of Management (Case Western Reserve University) and several of the major healthcare institutions in the Greater Cleveland area.
What is one quick anecdote about your project? We heard a patient complaining about the way her doctor was communicating with her. She said he was addressing her in a condescending and arrogant way. When we asked a staff member if anything will be done to address this patient's concerns, he stated that sharing this information with that doctor is a tricky issue. That specific doctor is a world-class doctor and at the Clinic for a reason. So, there is this interesting situation: the Clinic wants to become more patient-centric yet the realities of day-to-day interactions is not quite patient-centric. A very blatant example of this is that there are numerous signs in the parking garage that display "patient first," yet the doctors have the closest parking spots to the buildings while patients coming from near and far must struggle to find a remote parking spot.
What was an "a-ha" moment from this project? There were two distinct "a-ha" moments. The first is the realization that there are multiple ways to interpret "healthcare innovation" and every healthcare institution will more or less emphasize one of the following: quality & safety innovation, biomedical research innovation, devices & technological innovation, or service innovation. By mapping out the kinds of innovations in healthcare, we were able to strategical position Cleveland Clinic compared to other institutions. This allowed us to reinforce progress at the Clinic as well as point out areas for improvement. The second "a-ha" moment was the realization that the discharge, or leave-taking experience, is essentially a moment of transition. This particular type of transition has elements that are unique to Cleveland Clinic but also something almost universal that applies to all healthcare experiences. By pointing out the near-universal moments of frustration as well as opportunities for development, the potential for design application and impact became clearly apparent—it provided a way for the project to become relevant to a larger audience and avoid being a one-off initiative in an isolated organization.
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