Mapping for a Better E-Health - The Mind Mapping Tool

Challenge and Selection

My challenge was an opportunity to apply the contents learned in this course to my  actual project as a UX Designer in a software company developing a complex and  robust healthcare system aiming to take the agents involved to another level of user  experience. In order to do this, I needed to map all factors around this system,  ranging from administrative employees, to doctors and patients. We needed to find  out the factors that would make the serious and delicate task of working with people  health issues and transform them into a human and professional, but enjoyable  experience of well-being. But, what was the best way to encompass all the possible  factors and key elements that would bring us the best insights for this experience? I  chose the mind mapping tool to get the best possible outcome in our meetings with  stakeholders, product owners and key team members.

Mind mapping is one of the best methods to organize key ideas and solve complex  situations by breaking things down into smaller parts, that’s what we say it consists  in mapping the different users minds by starting off from key concepts to uncover  hidden behaviors and patterns. It’s very useful as it can be used in collaboration with  other design thinking methods to gain further insight. This tool allows to achieve  goals related to better thinking and collaboration between employees and team  members. I found this tool the most suitable thanks to the cases referred during  Week 3 videos “The MeYouHealth Story Parts I and II” as I’m working in a health  project for a huge system, and its explanation in “Mind Mapping Tool”.

Application

Then, the exercise started. We wrote the key word in a whiteboard: Patients. This is  the key factor around which our system will work, so we needed to get all the related  ideas and factors about patients. All the team members involved in this exercise  developed a huge map with words that ended up being remotely related but also  very important: Suffering, anxiousness, cold, emergency. Words were chained to  each other from the mental associations provided by the participants, delivering a  great quality of information ranging from doctors arriving late and not knowing how  many people were waiting for them, to the safest possible way to call an ambulance.  The amount of data we mapped was overwhelming so we started with the  presentation of the recurring patterns that would lead us to the best insights. This  would let us arrive to the clearest understating of the current reality not only of our  patients, but also of the whole system experience for doctors, nurses and  secretaries.

The participants were asked to take notes of everything that remained important to  them from the map we made on the board, and then formed small groups (we  weren’t much people). They discussed the key factors observed in the mapping and

wrote down each one on sticky notes. When the discussing session was done, each  group put their post its into the whiteboard. Some post its were not so related to the  main idea, but surprisingly, they were the ones that brought up findings that we  couldn’t have seen in other way.

We found out there were great connections between the findings of every group as  they placed similar words and elements near each other, it was then when we found  out which were the recurring patterns in this mapping, allowing the first insights to  emerge. Many words were related to long waits, difficult communication, worries and  in satisfaction.

Insight and Approach

We found out that patients were having a hard time managing their appointments  and results of their health tests because they had to personally ask for user and  password in the hospital to see all of this. In addition, a great cause of anxiety was  the fact that they could only ask for appointments through the telephone line. We  found that the recurring negative feelings toward their healthcare system was at the  root of their lack of permissions to manage their own systems (it is a rule of  heuristics giving the user the control of the system). This main insight allowed us to  see that seeing a doctor and being asked for health tests remains a situation which  can be improved in many ways by relieving the stress of the patient when it comes to  health issues.

After noticing the patients inner thoughts and feelings were a priority in this task, I  learned that next time, we could also work along with the storytelling tool to present  in a more intimate and individual manner the personal experience of a patient, and  thus to achieve a sense of more connection with the subjective experience of the  user. The exercise was of great utility not only to have a vast amount of information that  encompasses all the reality inside the healthcare system, but it also helped us map  the deepest human factors that were key in shaping the user centered experience  we were trying to achieve in one of the most important subjects we can ever work  on: human well being.


Mapping for a Better E - Health - The Mind Mapping Tool Challenge and Selection My challenge was an opportunity to apply the contents learned in this course to my actual project as a UX Designer in a software company developing a complex and robust healthcare system aiming to take the agents involved to another level of user experience . In order to do this , I needed to map all factors around this system , ranging from administrative employees , to doctors and patients . We needed to find out the factors that would make the serious and delicate task of working with people health issues and transform them into a human and professional , but enjoyable experience of well - being . But , what was the best way to encompass all the possible factors and key elements that would bring us the best insights for this experience ? I chose the mind mapping tool to get the best possible outcome in our meetings with stakeholders , product owners and key team members . Mind mapping is one of the best methods to organize key ideas and solve complex situations by breaking things down into smaller parts , that ’s what we say it consists in mapping the different users minds by starting off from key concepts to uncover hidden behaviors and patterns . It ’s very useful as it can be used in collaboration with other design thinking methods to gain further insight . This tool allows to achieve goals related to better thinking and collaboration between employees and team members . I found this tool the most suitable thanks to the cases referred during Week 3 videos “ The MeYouHealth Story Parts I and II ” as I ’m working in a health project for a huge system , and its explanation in “ Mind Mapping Tool ” . Application Then , the exercise started . We wrote the key word in a whiteboard : Patients . This is the key factor around which our system will work , so we needed to get all the related ideas and factors about patients . All the team members involved in this exercise developed a huge map with words that ended up being remotely related but also very important : Suffering , anxiousness , cold , emergency . Words were chained to each other from the mental associations provided by the participants , delivering a great quality of information ranging from doctors arriving late and not knowing how many people were waiting for them , to the safest possible way to call an ambulance . The amount of data we mapped was overwhelming so we started with the presentation of the recurring patterns that would lead us to the best insights . This would let us arrive to the clearest understating of the current reality not only of our patients , but also of the whole system experience for doctors , nurses and secretaries . The participants were asked to take notes of everything that remained important to them from the map we made on the board , and then formed small groups ( we were n’t much people ) . They discussed the key factors observed in the mapping and wrote down each one on sticky notes . When the discussing session was done , each group put their post its into the whiteboard . Some post its were not so related to the main idea , but surprisingly , they were the ones that brought up findings that we could n’t have seen in other way . We found out there were great connections between the findings of every group as they placed similar words and elements near each other , it was then when we found out which were the recurring patterns in this mapping , allowing the first insights to emerge . Many words were related to long waits , difficult communication , worries and in satisfaction . Insight and Approach We found out that patients were having a hard time managing their appointments and results of their health tests because they had to personally ask for user and password in the hospital to see all of this . In addition , a great cause of anxiety was the fact that they could only ask for appointments through the telephone line . We found that the recurring negative feelings toward their healthcare system was at the root of their lack of permissions to manage their own systems ( it is a rule of heuristics giving the user the control of the system ) . This main insight allowed us to see that seeing a doctor and being asked for health tests remains a situation which can be improved in many ways by relieving the stress of the patient when it comes to health issues . After noticing the patients inner thoughts and feelings were a priority in this task , I learned that next time , we could also work along with the storytelling tool to present in a more intimate and individual manner the personal experience of a patient , and thus to achieve a sense of more connection with the subjective experience of the user . The exercise was of great utility not only to have a vast amount of information that encompasses all the reality inside the healthcare system , but it also helped us map the deepest human factors that were key in shaping the user centered experience we were trying to achieve in one of the most important subjects we can ever work on : human well being .