Recommendations and Next Steps
This system is sufficiently developed to begin small-scale concept validation. There are a few key places in the journey that need validation and testing, and the fob that we have built can achieve those goals. First, we need to understand how intuitive the fob is and whether patients will be able to remember that green means leisure, yellow means head over, and red means your appointment is ready. Restaurant buzzer systems have stickers that say: “When the pager is vibrating and the lights are flashing, your food is ready to pick up.” Perhaps something that simple and low-cost will suffice, or perhaps an e-ink display to dynamically update relevant information such as wait time and location would be worth the extra expense. Testing will help reveal which direction is the most promising and worthwhile.

Another aspect of the journey that requires validation and testing is the patient perception of the signals. Will patients listen to the yellow signal or will they actually start to head to their appointment only when the red signal starts? How will the timing work for when to send yellow versus when to send red? If patients notice a difference in signaling versus reality (for example, if their fob buzzes red but in fact no one is there waiting for them yet), then the system will not be trusted. Early testing of patient behavior and response to the buzzer signals will help create a more robust and reliable system that patients will enjoy using.

A third target for short-term validation and testing on the patient side is whether or not patients will even want to wait in other destinations or whether they typically arrive in such a way or have certain constraints such that visiting other destinations does not work for them. Due to HIPAA we were not able to do extensive user research on actual hospital patients Allegheny General, so it is possible that, even though us as able-bodied young people would love to wander about the hospital relying on a fob, perhaps less mobile, older patients would be less inclined to behave that way.

One general recommendation that we believe can have a large impact for a relatively small price is to incorporate themes into the landscape of the hospital. It is well documented in the field of experience design that utilizing themes in the design of spaces and experiences can significantly improve satisfaction and engagement. A classic example is Disney’s Rainforest Cafe. Rather than conform to the mold of overpriced amusement park burger and pizza place, the Rainforest Cafe creates a magical and wonderful experience quite literally around a watering hole. Now, eating lunch is a destination in and of itself that is desirable and fun, rather than a necessary break from the rest of the park. Another example closer to home is that children’s hospitals do a phenomenal job creating environments that make their patients feel at ease and relaxed. They decorate the rooms and provide entertainment and comfort throughout the patient experience. Everything is geared towards giving the children the best experience they can have while at the hospital.

We are not proposing that Allegheny General Hospital transform itself into an amusement park or into a children’s hospital. However, we must ask ourselves why we do not take care of our adult patients in the same empathic way that we treat our children patients. Why not create a rich and engaging atmosphere for adults when they have to go to the hospital? Allegheny General is an old hospital with a lot of different and conflicting styles. This is understandable given that it takes up an entire city block and was not designed from the beginning to be a hospital. We can actually use this heterogeneity to our advantage and lean into the differences by creating distinct themes throughout the hospital. This can help improve patient experience in a number of ways. First, the sheer delight of entering themed spaces on their own is not to be underestimated. Secondly, it can help a lot with wayfinding, where patients can remember where the Greco-Roman section was and more easily find it by passing through the forest section. Finally, it can help create more enjoyable destinations as the various existing destinations at Allegheny General lean into the themes in their respective locations. A cafe in the theme of a beachside resort would be a welcome respite from the stress of surgery.

In the next three months, significant progress can be made on this project to move it forward in development. We suggest working in parallel to conduct user research using the fob that we developed and to work on developing version 2 of the fob. Version 2 should be designed with scale in mind. A low-cost system designed to accommodate radio signaling, RFID scanning, and audio-visual feedback. The hardware we used for version 1 is general hobbyist equipment and great for first-cut prototyping, but not for large-scale development. Results from the user feedback can inform the design of version 2, but user feedback does not have to be complete before development of version 2 can begin.