Mater Hospital Service Redirect
Student Research Project in Partnership with the Mater Hospital System
6 Weeks
Dublin, Ireland
PROJECT SUMMARYOur Challenge
Patients who have "non-emergency" issues are reporting to the Mater Hospital Emergency Department in Dublin, causing a backlog that is arduous for them, and can be dangerous to those with more urgent issues. The challenge then was to create awareness among patients about other services and options the Mater Hospital system provides - and to motive them to feel comfortable using those services in order to ease the burden and pressure on emergency departments. |
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My Work within the Team
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Key findings
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Solution Concepts & Outcome
Key findings our team to develop and test two possible solutions, one taking advantage of pharmacies as a first point of contact and trusted community resource to disseminate information, and the second reimaging the Mater website as a tool to more actively direct patients to resources through the form of a chatbot . After presenting these potential solutions to hospital administration, they felt the chatbot was most feasible within their system, and a nursing graduate students has taken on the task of continuing the research and developing a beta prototype. |
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The Process
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Clinical Stakeholder Interviews and Observation
Out of 30+ interviews, I conducted 9 with doctors, nurses, health aides, and admin, and also spent several hours observing patients in the emergency room. The team undertook a large scale affinity mapping exercise to determine overall themes and insights. Key Findings were that patients were going to the emergency department because
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User Definition and User Journeys
Using the research, we identified a number of different patient types to present to the emergency room (ED), and mapped out their decision-making process, as well as their journeys leading up to them presenting to the ED, their journey through the Ed, and their journey after discharge, to prevent a return to the ED. |
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Solution Ideation & Rapid Prototyping
Concept 1:
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Concept
We looked at utilizing local pharmacies, a trusted and free resource in the community, for an information campaign and a give-away site for free Band-Aids with contact information for medical services in the community printed on them. Band-Aids were chosen because they themselves can be kept and used for first aid. Supporting Insights Solution 1 built off our insights that patients were more comfortable using a resource that had a trusted history of family use, that patients had trouble getting quick appointments with their GPs but that pharmacy is a walk-in resource, and that patient's lack of familiarity with resources available to them included knowledge that pharmacists are able to assess and treat some minor ailments. |
My parts in developing this solution were...
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...interviewing local pharmacist about the services they offered, and getting feedback on some early campaign concepts and mockups.
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...building iterative band aid dispenser prototypes, posting the prototype in a trafficked hallway, and monitoring usage.
Additional Findings
- Pharmacists agreed that they had personal relationships in their communities, and that overall their services were underutilized.
- Pharmacists and other clinicians identified a way to print their own customized band aid or band aid labels as an a potentially needed component of this service.
Concept 2:
"Pat", a Mater Hospital Chatbot
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Concept
We looked at adding a chatbot to the Mater Hospital website (based on similar chatbots in the Australia and UK public health systems), that could help assess obvious emergencies that should definitely present to the ED, and help inform and guide patients through other hospital services. Supporting Insights Solution 2 built off our insights that patients felt unqualified to gauge the severity of their issue and sometimes went to the emergency department "just in case", and that patients were unaware of other resources available to help treat issues such as a rapid injury clinic |
My parts in developing this solution were...
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...writing and user testing a basic question algorithm the chatbot could use to determine whether a patient's issue was classified as a "Level 1" emergency.
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...user testing an interactive chatbot prototype with clinicians for clinical accuracy and patients for usability.
Additional Findings
- Patient testing indicated that they would be unlikely to consult Pat if they felt like they were in the midst of an emergency situation, but that "she" would be helpful in navigating the overall Mater system.
- They also felt information they learned while using the the bot might be useful in future emergency situations.
Project Outcome
Myself and the team presented our research, concepts, and findings to the hospital administration. Based on our findings they determined "Pat the Chatbot" to be the most viable and implementable solution. |
To date, a nursing graduate student affiliated with the hospital has taken over the project, to continue to develop "Pat" for hopeful eventual implementation on the hospital website. Environmentally, there has been a rise in similar types of symptom checker and next-step-guidance chat bots has been seen to help people assess their symptoms relative to COVID-19, and receive guidance on whether they should seek testing or report to the hospital. |
