On 29 November last year I ended up in hospital after a rather serious fall from the stairs.

 

When I woke up at the ICU after about four days, the first thing I saw was a PC monitor at the foot of the bed. Still confused as a result of the morphine I did not dwell on it any longer at that time. Even professional idiocy shuts down at some point.

 

However, after a while I started noticing that the nurses and doctors were doing things on that computer. They tried to search and enter information while standing up. With no exception, everyone who had to do anything on that computer would swear at some point: "Where the hell is it." "You must be kidding, they've changed it again." "Do you have any idea where to look for this or that?" Precious time lost which these people could not spend on the patients.

 

Great, a fantastic field study, at the foot of my bed! A nurse told me that one day there "simply was a new system", no one knew where it came from. And no one was prepared for it.

 Lesson 1: Involve the people you are designing for. The result will be better and you create a basis in the organization. Managers do not sufficiently involve nurses in ICT-related processes. This is not just a finding from my study. The Health Management Forum drew the same conclusions. 

 

When I ended up at the neurosurgery department a week later, I had my iPhone back (you would smuggle anything in there to make your stay more bearable). Turned out there was wireless internet! Hurray! It allowed me to update my loved-ones about my status. And find out exactly what was wrong with me. And see what was happening in the world.

 

The network codes were written on my "patient bracelet". I was unable to read them, because to do so I would have had to turn my neck. Which I was unable to do because I was stuck in one of these monstrous things to immobilize your neck. Emergency solution: write down the codes in an iPhone note.

 

Lesson 2: Look at the reality. If your users have limitations, keep these in mind. (In this case the solution would have consisted of a wider bracelet, making it possible to read the codes without moving the body and allowing them to be written horizontally.) Lesson 2 also applies to the control panel on the bed: make the cord longer to make sure immobile people do not have to call a nurse to ask for the control panel which fell under the bed.

 

I healed well and was discharged after two weeks. Another two weeks later I was expected back for a check-up. The hospital told me so in a letter which was dropped in my letterbox.

I went to the self-service terminal with my social security card, very keenly. Something I could manage all by myself! So far, so good. I even got a useful floor plan which showed me how to get to the relevant department.

 

However, when I got to the department a displeased nurse told me I should have brought the letter. "But I am registered, look here", I said. "You must always bring the letter", the nurse replied. Mental note to self: never walk around without papers, Sigrid. And also: are those systems not connected to each other? Are they not talking to each other?

I reached the department where "Highway to Hell" was blaring through the speakers. Not a bad tune to start off with, wobbling on your feet. Was it intended to create the right atmosphere? To spread optimism?

 

There was a poster in the neurosurgeon's cabinet: "Index of Brain Tumors". Probably intended to convey a positive message to patients. Or to tell them "hey, you are not in such a bad shape, some people are even worse off".

 

 Lesson 3:   Look at the total experience. Nagging nurses, wrong music and depressing offices do have an impact on patient experience, no matter how good and smooth all systems run. It is a proven fact that positivism is beneficial to the healing process. 

 

But let's not despair. Things are changing. UZ Leuven wants a multimedia terminal next to every bed. An innovative and economically profitable healthcare is one of the spearheads of the Flanders in Action plan. And the quality of the care as such is fantastic. I am glad I was not born in a third-world country ...

 

Sigrid Vandenweghe (bio)

Sr. Project Manager

 

 

 "You know what's worse than useless? Useless and oblivious."  (Dr Gregory House)