Design Thinking and Systems Engineering to Map Human Needs and Improve Digitization at an Emergency Health Care – a Case Study

Abstract

This study from out‐of‐hours emergency primary health care investigates methods to improve the digital solutions to become both effective and empathetic. A relatively small inter‐municipal emergency care in Norway struggles with high costs and low efficiency. Employees spend a lot of time performing various manual work that is of little benefit to patients. We used the steps from Design Thinking and tools from Systems Engineering to come up with an improved solution. Furthermore, we tested this solution on staff at the emergency room. The study shows that the current computer tools clearly lack functionality when it comes to meeting the needs of employees such as efficient operation and facilitation for good patient flow. Employees felt that complicated digital tasks steal time that could be better spent on health care. Furthermore, the employees lack a comprehensive overview of systems functionality. We have proposed several innovative functional improvements, including interaction technology in the form of a wall‐mounted work board, which according to the employees will enable streamlining of tasks at the emergency room. These solutions have emerged by using a step by step, iterative and structured system technique inspired by Design Thinking. Extensive interaction with the systems users throughout the project phase has enabled us to clearly understand the challenges of the emergency room and associated solutions. We believe that empathy with the users is essential in innovative digital solution.

How Digital Systems Are Used in Swedish Home Care Nursing Practice

“…This design mindset has gained popularity in complex healthcare settings, 19 where design methods seek to work toward solutions for ill-defined problems. 16,20,21 Home care is such a complex setting, with multiple sick patients interacting with several healthcare organizations and geographical locations. The home care nurse has a coordinating role, and digitalization can play a significant role in supporting the nurse in this work.…”

“…Because digitalization transforms practice rather quickly, it is necessary to recurringly revise the image of how work is done and generate a new and up-to-date description that can be used in subsequent iterations. This design mindset has gained popularity in complex healthcare settings, 19 where design methods seek to work toward solutions for ill-defined problems 16,20,21 . Home care is such a complex setting, with multiple sick patients interacting with several healthcare organizations and geographical locations.…”