1. Built comprehensive journey maps to detail provider roles and illustrate design opportunities. To help our clients better understand how current procedures can be impacted by Pump 2.0, I drafted a journey map that spans multiple procedures across various hospitals and how they can be optimized with Pump 2.0. I identified the affected variables and the pain points that can be relieved with recommended design features.
2. Crafted the storytelling narrative for the final deliverable. Our client entered this project with certain assumptions around the stress echo procedure that did not align with our research findings. What they had believed was a standardized procedure had actually been adapted to each hospital's training guidelines and to each provider's personal preferences. I crafted the narrative framework and visual design for the final deliverable.
3. Distilled actionable insights that led the client through a strategic reevaluation. Our research findings revealed that our client's initial pump design strategy would not be effective for all stress echo tests. I crafted actionable insights from the research that translated directly into design implications for the MVP and served as a guide through a strategic reevaluation. This was shared in the final deliverable at the end of the project and readily received by client executives and stakeholders.
4. Built a backup research plan in response to project delays and timeline changes. This project's research connections relied heavily on our client's relationships with their customer base and hospitals. When we were notified that field research was delayed, I quickly reached out to IDEO's Health Domain and within one day, created a list of potential hospitals and cardiologists within the Bay Area that we had connections for shadowing. Luckily, we did not need to follow through with the backup plan.
I devised a research plan to guide the process through one round of concept generation and refinement. Our deliverables for this project were device concepts and recommendations based on our research insights and learnings.
This project was HIPAA-compliant. Because of this, we relied on our client's relationships with partner hospitals to determine our research locations and did not have full control over locations and dates. For this project, my main focus was to work with the client to ensure that our locations represented a diverse selection of large and small hospitals.
Due to planning delays, I shifted Field Research back by one week and used the time to conduct remote research that would set us up for success in the field. As a result, we began to synthesize our research findings while we were still in the field and shortened our Synthesis & Needs Definition phase by one week.
Roles of providers:
Sacrificial concept features that we tested:
Some of the questions that framed our observations and interviews:
Here's a closer look what one part of the workflow looks like on the journey map. The map is color-coded based on phases of the test. Each hospital has a different workflow with a different number of steps involved for the same test. In addition to the journey maps, I also created room layouts to indicate the providers and equipment present at each hospital.
Providers are often balancing image capture with other tasks during a stress echo test. They preferred leaner pump designs that would help them focus on capturing the images they needed.
Providers want a simple and reliable tool to get a good image, and are less concerned with the nitty gritty details along the way. They remain open to making changes and improvements in their process.
Even though the contrast agent comes with set reconstitution instructions, we still observed a variety of reconstitution methods and beliefs that providers swore by.
Each provider follows their own set of working contrast agent beliefs and techniques adapted to their preferences from formal training, tips from colleagues, and personal experience.
For the most part, stress echo tests take place in designated labs. For ICU patients, however, stress echo tests are bedside. Sonographers need to transport their ultrasound machines from the lab to the ICU, and don’t have the extra hand for additional equipment.
Stress echo procedures are akin to a circus act, with providers juggling contrast agents, wires, machines, and more. The last thing they need is a tool that adds to the physical and mental burden.
