MGH Ally

MGH Ally Ashleigh Korona and Sarah LaGrasta

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CONTENTS 03

Intro

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Overview

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Research

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The App

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Since 1811, Massachusetts General Hospital has been committed to delivering standard-setting medical care.

Throughout the decades, the hospital has had a consistent commitment to advancing that care through pioneering research and educating future health care professionals

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Mass General has long been a leader in successfully bridging innovative science with state-of-the-art clinical medicine.

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Guided by the needs of our patients and their families, we aim to deliver the very best health care in a safe, compassionate environment; to advance that care through innovative research and education; and to improve the health and well-being of the diverse communities we serve.

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OVERVIEW In today’s world hospitals can be intimidating. Between appointments, tests, surgeries and other daily functions of a hospital people can easily be lost in all the hustle. With the advancements in technology, preventing these trouble some moments can be accomplished simply and efficiently through the use of personal technology. By using personal technology in the form of a smart-phone, creating an application that assists patients in way finding within the hospital can be accomplished.

This app would be made for the specific use of Massachusetts General Hospital for way finding, accessing information about the hospital, and tracking patients’ individual schedules. With this app in hand you will never feel lost and confused inside MGH ever again and have the peace of mind to focus on what is important.

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Fly on the Wall For our very first visit to Mass General Hospital we began by observing and recording the activity within the hospital without interfering. At the first moment of entrance we were overwhelmed by the people and information that immediately surrounds you. The second thing we observed was the clear color coding the hospital uses to identify the different wings of the complex. Later we realized the letters that accompanied the colors visually defined the individual buildings.

Our first interaction with the hospital staff was at the main lobby help desk. The people stationed there were cheerful and happy to help us. After visiting all manned help desks we could find we found all the information desks to be extremely helpful and genuinely nice people. Over the course of the two hours we spent in Mass General six different people stopped what they were doing to ask if I needed help. This was something so unexpected but also very welcomed as I was lost most of the times someone asked.

Walking through the main corridors the next thing we noticed was the very clear iconography being used effectively throughout the entire hospital. These were particularly useful in finding most amenities offered by the hospital, like the cafeteria and chapel. These things were not really mentioned on the map the hospital hands out. Using the map provided by the hospital we could not find several features we believe were very important, like the cafeteria and pharmacy.

Overall our first experience of Mass General Hospital was pretty positive with their colors, icons, and friendly staff. There were a few pain points like the experience using the map but these are things that can be fixed with a little good design.

color coded way finding system in the hospital

lots of people using the info desk

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main lobby is always full of people

volunteers in salmon coats

lots of hallways means lots of confusion

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Role Playing By taking the time to identify the stakeholders in our given problem we were able to break down the experience. We took the time to sift through their paper work given to us to identify the appointments and the locations of the appointments.

Having collected the necessary information we proceeded to go through the motions of being a patient, while keeping track of the time we spent doing it. Starting from the main entrance of the hospital, because no other was indicated on the forms, we began there ignoring the maps available at the desk because the average new patient wouldn’t be aware of them.

The signage system was generally useful in pointing one to the correct wing of the hospital. Where it failed was when we attempted to locate the specific room we were confused by what floor we needed to be on. With no kind person around to help us we spent a good deal of time looking through a messy directory next to an elevator, looking for any indication of the correct floor. Eventually we connected our appointment to one on the fifth floor.

Continuing through the other two appointments went smoother than the first after we identified that the floor number correlated with the first digit of the room. There was a moment of confusion in the Yawkey wing about direction when the halls diverged with no directions and the sky bridge.

In conclusion we were late to every appointment, becoming later as we moved along through our schedule due to confusion from the floor numbers and areas lacking signage. Most of their present way finding system is effective to a point, but there comes a moment in the experience when one has wandered deeper into the hospital and the friendly people are less frequent along with helpful signage.

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Interviewing To further our research and diagnose the problems we were experiencing at Massachusetts General Hospital we decided to do a tour of the hospital to conduct interviews with the employees. We chose the people who work there because they are the people who occupy the hospital most frequently.

At this point in our research we have decided to move forward with an app to assist the persona we created. With our interviews we want to see how aware people are of the already existing app and if they believe it is needed.

After interviewing five people who have been working at the hospital for many years one only of them knew of the existing app and two of our interviewees thought it would be useful to patients.

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“I’m not aware of any app for the hospital....I’m sure young people could find use for it.” ~Woman 30-40

“There is no app for Mass General....people wouldn’t use it they would ask the help desk.” ~Woman 60+

“Yes of course there is an app...if more people knew about it it could be very useful.” ~Woman 25-30

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Hospitals and Apps Further research was conducted into other hospital apps and their significance during a patient’s experience. The research tried to distill what a good hospital app needs to function well in this environment. They found support for the move to digital, despite concerns from staff at MGH. Mobile apps are an increasingly popular way for hospitals to interact with patients. 66% of the 100 largest hospitals in the U.S. have developed mobile apps with 38% of them developing them in house. Based on a study done by Accenture, a professional service company hired to do some consulting on the health field, 54% of consumers would like to use their smart phones to interact with healthcare providers but only 2% are currently using their hospital’s app. This is due largely to poor user experience and poor functionality within the apps. In fact, only 11% of hospital apps even have the three functions most important to consumers, the ability to access medical records, the ability to schedule/cancel an appointment, and the ability to refill a prescription. A lot of consumer frustrations with basic hospital apps is that they have what is called “liquid expectations” meaning that consumer expectations seep over from one industry to another. They then expect hospital apps to interact on that same level and become frustrated when they do not. Brian Kalis, the managing director for Accenture’s health division says this, “Mobile engagement is becoming increasingly critical to the success of every hospital in the digital age, today it’s all about enabling an individualized approach, where patients are empowered to help manage their own care.

The only application the hospital has on the app store is MGH Access. Its mission is to be a, “way to connect with services/clinicians while on the go.” but the app does not accomplish these goals. The user experience we had with the app was very confusing and disorienting. The app didn’t seem like it was meant for everyone, especially for me. Lack of necessary information readily available was the most confusing.

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More than half of health consumers (54 percent) would like to use their smartphones more to interact with healthcare providers

Hospitals have engaged less than 2 percent of their patients using mobile apps

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Hospitals and Apps Large hospitals that design and build experiences as well as partner with digital disruptor’s will have the ability to better engage with their patients, which will enhance patient loyalty – thereby enabling the hospitals to protect their revenues.” Accenture has seen this play out already with around 7% of patients already switching healthcare providers due to poor experience with online customer services like apps. This could cost an estimated $100 million in annual revenue per hospital. They also estimate that with consumers’ “liquid expectations” hospitals could see switching rates on par with the mobile phone industry (9%), cable providers (11%), and retail (30%). So mobile apps have not only become helpful for patients and providers but necessary for maintaining patient satisfaction.

Virtual Health can enable more clinical care work to get done without expanding the workforce

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Hospitals and Apps Patient satisfaction plays a major role in hospital funding.

Every hospital must take the HCAHPS patient survey of which one of the questions is overall hospital rating. Now a lot of factors can affect a patient’s perception of a hospital, maybe they didn’t like the price of the cafeteria food or they don’t like the channel selection in their room, but any of these can drastically affect a score. With that comes the idea that you’ll never be able to please all people at all times, but one easy measure that hospitals can take to help reduce the number of low ratings is to improve indoor way finding. Almost one third of first time patients have a hard time navigating a hospital and even repeat visitors report having difficulties finding their way.

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2014

2016

9%

21%

16%

33%

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Bluetooth and Geofencing Considering that most patients are already stressed when entering a hospital, even a small problem such as taking a wrong turn could lead to poor ratings. This problem can so easily be alleviated by better wayfinding and many hospitals now are turning to mobile apps to solve that problem. One of the newest ways that hospitals are improving mobile way finding is through the use of geofencing and proximity beacons.

These small, inexpensive bluetooth devices continuously send out small pulses that trigger with corresponding apps of nearby users. Using this technology you can send relevant push notifications based on location to help with navigation or even promotion. It can also be used as a fun way to engage consumers with the space around them.

Besides being low-cost and energy efficient these little wonders have amazing accuracy. They extend their reach up to 160 feet and they can triangulate your position to within 20 inches. You don’t even have to worry about changing all those batteries because they last up to three years. Depending on what beacon you decide on they cost anywhere between 3 and 30 dollars a unit, making them very practical for any business.

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Top: Proximity Beacons Bottom: Beacon Placement

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Bluetooth and Geofencing Blue tooth beacons are the key to the directional system within MGH Ally. By placing these low-cost, energy efficient in strategic places around and throughout the hospital they can locate a patient through their smartphone to direct them without the use of GPS.

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MGH ALLY Ally provides patients with a map and visual directions of the hospital. Using proximity beacons, the app can ping when going too far off course and prompt the patient with new directions. Customized schedules for each day a patient has appointments is provided. Push notifications with reminders of appointments and information about surrounding amenities. The app also provides information about the doctors of MGH and the hospitals many centers.

MGH

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Sign up using the code mgh sends you to self populate the calendar

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Watch the walkthrough to teach you about the app

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view your schedule on the home screen along with notifications from your doctors

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or view your whole month to see upcoming events

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Never forget items again with the handy checklist for each appointment

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Search through the different centers for more information on what they do and the doctors that work there

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need help? click the heart to search the app of call the info desk

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when you have an appointment the app will ask if you want help to navigate there

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The navigation system uses augmented reality to make navigating easy

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Just follow the arrow as it moves with your camera

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the bluetooth senses when you’re near landmarks and can encourage you to visit

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the app knows when you’ve arrived and will prompt you from there

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