I began this project after an opportunity workshop with the medical practice, Southern Orthopaedics. The project was an extension from an issue the team identified as holding them back.
Post-it notes used in a Design workshop
Research
Talking to staff in the office I noticed that the way they get information from the patients was cumbersome and inefficient and after a closer inspection I found would often end up riddled with mistakes. The process involved staff talking to patients on the phone to get some of their information and then giving the patients a three-page form when they got to the practice. Patients would often omit or give incorrect information. I learnt that they would be required to spend time on the form once arriving at the practice which would very often hold up others. The information would then have to be typed out by the staff from the written forms which was time-consuming and would open up possibilities for mistakes as it would rely on reading their handwriting.
Old forms
Goals
-Give staff an easier way to store and use patient data.
-Save time on staff typing everything out.
-Prevent mistakes and omissions. - by allowing patients to fill out the form in their homes when they have access to the information.
-Allow patients to fill out forms from the comfort of their homes
-Allow staff more time to concentrate on more important tasks (e.g. talking to patients).
High-level goals
-Provide patients with a sense of ease and comfort.
-Portray a sense of professionalism.
-Increase office efficiency.
Brief
How might we allow staff to save time typing out patient information from forms and prevent mistakes whilst simultaneously improving the patient’s experience?
The Solution
Online forms were designed to make it easier for patients to provide important information about themselves. Moving online meant staff spent less time typing up the information and patients could fill it out in their own time. This has a dramatic effect as Southern Orthopaedics has around 90 new patients a month. Giving patients access to online forms allows them to complete the forms when they choose, in the comfort and privacy of their own homes and removes the time pressure that they would have completing the form in the practice.
The form is quite long as there is a lot of information that is needed e.g. does the patient have medicare, workers comp, next of kin, any gastrointestinal illnesses etc... When researching software to use, I was looking for a program that would allow patients to skip over segments not relevant to themselves. I decided to use Typeform to utilise the logic pathways feature.
I have also used automation software to take the form data and automatically put it into a report template, saving time for the surgeon and staff. When patients arrive at the practice the reports are already mostly completed. Staff are then informed of the patient's condition and are able to clarify important details. The report has gone from taking days to being completed in minutes.
Challenges
The form was very long. To combat this I designed the forms so that patients are only presented with information that is relevant to them.
People turning up without having completed the form. Tablets were bought for patients to use at the practice.
Opportunities
Using popular software like Typeform meant it was not hard to find ways of automating the information into reports and tables. It also made it easy to present patient information in a table making it easier to audit the information, something important for the surgeon to show continuous development. With patient information in a table, the practice can use the quantitative data to learn about their patients’ demographics.
One thing we have noticed since rolling out the forms is that patients who don’t fill out the form often don’t turn up. These patients are contacted to see if they intend to turn up.
At the end of the form is a link so that patients can give us their anonymous feedback, helping us to constantly be improving the forms and the business. Questions have been reworded after patients expressed their confusion.
Roles
The form was initially written by the surgeon. I consulted with the surgeon, nurses and secretaries to finalise the questions. As the form is online questions are constantly being refined. I researched the software that could be used to create and run the form. I put the form together. I was responsible for all Southern Orthopaedics styling and branding on the form. I used Zapier to automate the flow of information into reports. The Report's structure was written by the surgeon. I set it up so that word files were created for each new patient with the information automatically being added from the patient’s form. The office staff then check the reports and add any extra information before sending them off to the patient’s GP or physio.
