Treatment of mental illness as a model of acute holistic care.
During the first semester at Parsons School of Design we conducted research in the space of “living and dying.” My team was exploring the capabilities of data to improve care for those particularly with chronic mental illnesses that will positively impact lifelong healthcare from the start of care to the end of life.
We identified an asymmetric information balance that places disproportionate burden on the patients in collecting and accessing data. Additionally, we observed a passive patient involvement in data in which patients generate information but that few mechanisms exist to keep them engaged with data after that point.
How might we achieve Acute Holistic Care?
Research
We identified the key touch-points and patient needs through journey and stakeholder maps as well as interviews. Through these we identified moments of crisis in the patient journey.
5 Design Principles
These principles were established to guide and focus our design process.
Moments of Crisis
2.
The second moment of crisis comes in thinking back to the patients earliest interactions with care and how the data that was created then will accompany them into the independent care of adulthood.
1.
The first crisis moment during the patient journey occurs when visiting a new doctor while filling out the patient intake form. How many times have you filled out that form? How many times you weren’t entirely sure and your responses might have differed?
3.
The third moment of crisis comes when expanding care in adulthood with new providers and the need curate and provide relevant histories of care.
Workshop Insights
Through a workshop about moments of crisis in care we learned that the key aspect for patients is the need to have the data accessible at all times, especially during an emergency, while still having control over where it is shared. The medical data institutions hold are based on moments of care, but there isn't a good way for institutions to capture the data in the interstices of care, but that data is actually what can be most valuable to overall care.
Conclusion.
We conceptualized a medical vault to collect records at the point of care that ideally would be a physical extension of centralized digital service of medical record keeping owned and maintained by the patient where access could be given to care providers as needed.