Abstract
Technology-driven medical device design for the growing incidence of cardiovascular disease and heart failure has enabled ventricular assist device (VAD - a small mechanical pump which takes over the function of the heart) implantation as a treatment option. However, challenges are emerging with how patients’ and caregivers’ quality of life is negatively impacted during the VAD journey. Design innovation in digital platforms for VAD users can enable building relationships and sustaining dialogues between patients, caregivers and practitioners, which may improve outcomes. This paper details a content analysis methodology used to investigate sixteen digital platforms designed for VAD patients, caregivers and practitioners. Most digital platforms supported the primary purpose of daily home monitoring or stakeholder education, and featured varying levels of interactivity, communication and focus through the different stages of the patient journey. This paper suggests five implications for future digital platforms designed to support VAD users: embrace the entire patient journey, emphasise human-centred design over patient-centric design, encompass holistic wellbeing, enable communication channels, and blend ‘manual input’ with ‘smart input’ interactivity.
Keywords
patient centric design; human centred design; user experience design; design innovation
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2018.639
Citation
Dunn, J., Ko, K., Nusem, E., Straker, K., Wrigley, C., and Gregory, S. (2018) Building Relationships and Sustaining Dialogue Between Patients, Caregivers and Healthcare Practitioners: a design evaluation of digital platforms for ventricular assist device users, in Storni, C., Leahy, K., McMahon, M., Lloyd, P. and Bohemia, E. (eds.), Design as a catalyst for change - DRS International Conference 2018, 25-28 June, Limerick, Ireland. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2018.639
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Building Relationships and Sustaining Dialogue Between Patients, Caregivers and Healthcare Practitioners: a design evaluation of digital platforms for ventricular assist device users
Technology-driven medical device design for the growing incidence of cardiovascular disease and heart failure has enabled ventricular assist device (VAD - a small mechanical pump which takes over the function of the heart) implantation as a treatment option. However, challenges are emerging with how patients’ and caregivers’ quality of life is negatively impacted during the VAD journey. Design innovation in digital platforms for VAD users can enable building relationships and sustaining dialogues between patients, caregivers and practitioners, which may improve outcomes. This paper details a content analysis methodology used to investigate sixteen digital platforms designed for VAD patients, caregivers and practitioners. Most digital platforms supported the primary purpose of daily home monitoring or stakeholder education, and featured varying levels of interactivity, communication and focus through the different stages of the patient journey. This paper suggests five implications for future digital platforms designed to support VAD users: embrace the entire patient journey, emphasise human-centred design over patient-centric design, encompass holistic wellbeing, enable communication channels, and blend ‘manual input’ with ‘smart input’ interactivity.