To continue my investigation on the service giving the patients, I decided to follow different patients during their visit at the hospital, in order to create a user-journey in the end. A user-journey is a resume of the procedure told by pictograms and simple text. I started at the parking lot, so we could follow every single step of the service. I followed a young girl and her mother, an elderly lady with her son, an elderly couple and many others. Following different kind of patients, gives a better representative picture of the service procedure at the hospital. I will take you with me on my journey with the married couple; Pierre at 66 years old and Capucine at 62 years old…
We meet Cappucine in the reception hall and she explained that there was a carcrash on the way to the hospital, so they got 1 hour late. They arrived in panic and when they realize that the parking is full, they got even more frustrated. They decide to split up i two, -Pierre finds a parking spot, while Capucine goes to the hospital for her consultation.
Capucine had never been on the hospital before and she feels stressed about her delay and not knowing the procedure at the hospital. She goes to the 1st. floor, where the reception there, tells her that she needs to go the to the service desk “L’étiquette” on the floor level instead. This service desk is where you pay for your treament before having it.
Capucine goes back to ground level and gets confirmed in the reception that she is at the right place. They explain her that she has to take a number and wait for the procedure at “L’étiquette”, which is the service desk where you pay for your treament before having it. Capucine waited for 10 min before she can pay for her cosultation, after her payment they confirmed that she has an appointment at 10:00. Then she realizes that she had forgot her phone in the car, so she can not get in contact with her husband. She is not sure how to get to the specific place at the hospital, but finds a elevator and goes on the 10th floor as it says in her paper that she got with the post. Luckly enough Capucine finds her husband on the 10th floor. He has been at the hospital before and remembered that her consultation was on 10th floor. She feels less stressed with him by her side and are now waiting in the waiting hall for her consutation. A nurse comes out to check if everyone is at the right spot and nobody waits at the wrong place. They got confirmed that they are at the right place… She explains that people often get lost and waits at the wrong place, so she always doubbletjeck. The Nurse takes out a list of names with patients, the first 3 patients ones are not present. Capucine is smiling and says “But I’m here.” The nurse looks at her papers and wringel her nose, like something is not as it supose to be… the nurse explains that her that her doctor only consults on Thursday and not today at wensday, therefore she has to come back tomorrow, even though her consultation letter tells her to be there today. Capucine and her husband are very frustrated and ask how they can receive a letter that tells them to be there a day, where thedoctor do not have any consultations. The nurse explain that he chaged his schedule three months ago. Cappucine explains that she got her letter two months ago.. the nurse is lifting one of her shoulders, explaining that there is nothing more she can do for her today. She feels very disapointed and goes to the reception to complain and get a confirmation for a consultation the day after. They explain her that they can not give her a confirmation on her consultation, but she has to try to come back tomorrow. She explains them that she has another consultation tomorrow and she is afraid not to be able to make both consultaions at the same day. The reception tries to carm her down by saying that they are sure that it will work out. She asks to get it on paper, but they can not give her that, she just have to trust them. Cappucine and her husband had no other choise but to trust them and go home and hope for the best the day after..
This service journey is one out of many.. And some are more easy and fast while others are struggeling like Cappucine and Pierre. I had visualized a lot of the journeys to use as a tool for a discussion with the staff, trying to find out how to make a more efficient experience for the patients.:
The main points that we experienced was difficult for the patients was the wayfinding.. they used a lot of time trying to navigate in various systems of wayfinding, some made by the wayfinding team at the hospital and others made by the staff themselves. We think it coud be intresting to test how the wayfinding could be better by trying out a color system. They also struggles with the enough parking space. Everybody goes by car, because the public transport is not very well connected to the cities around. Another struggle is finding out where to start and where to end. They need some kind of guide to find out how the service procedure is is at the hospital.
I am looking so much forward for next time, where I will be able to talk with the staff and find ways to have a better communication between the different service points at the hospital..
