The <Tomorrow's Hospital is a "Journey of Discovery"> concept engages children and women in a new way. Instead of a cold and intimidating experience, the hospital experience would now be structured as a journey through stations and events with discoveries along the way.
To facilitate this experience, each patient family is presented with a tablet computer (like an iPad) upon entering, and through this device, they will actively map, monitor and contribute to their hospital experience via user interfaces (UI) that are audience-appropriate.
For children, the tablet's UI presents the hospital visit as an animated treasure hunt game with each hospital station and event being another clue or step in that treasure hunt. The diagnosis, which is initially unknown, is ultimately presented as the "treasure," and the associated treatment plan is ultimately presented as a series of mini-games for "spending that treasure." The whole experience is presented to the child through a treasure map navigation screen that reveals itself and is individualized as hospital examination and test results unfold. Children are invited to do age-appropriate research and play online games related to the findings at each of the milestones on the treasure map as they emerge. Children are also encouraged to learn and guess the location where the treasure might be found using clues (thus engaging them in the diagnosis and treatment planning process based on previously collected data), and prizes will be awarded based on their success at various points throughout the game. With this approach, the treasure map essentially communicates the patient's chart through an entertaining and engaging age-appropriate user interface while the games incentivize the child to understand and participate in their own consumption of health-care services.
For women, the tablet's user interface presents the hospital visit as a series of steps in an emerging process-chart with each hospital station and event being another step in the process of diagnosing ("discovering") and treating their ailment. The adult steps are initially modeled as abstract stages: Welcome, Triage, Examination, etc., with possible loops along the way. The actual process-chart for a given patient emerges as findings are added. As with the model for children, these steps essentially communicate the patient's record in real-time. Similarly, women can predict and make notes as well as see new data as it is being added by departments throughout the hospital, and again prizes might be provided to women who successfully predict their diagnosis as they move through the hospital experience.
The underlying data model is the same for children as for women, but the user interface is less "gamified" for adults and the research and notes are appropriate to each patient.
For each tablet, either the adult or child interface can be used, so parents can switch to the adult interface on the same tablet presented to the child.
The use of tablets can also facilitate a group experience with other members of the family. Children who are brought to family rooms can "cast" their screens to monitors to show the family and invite them to collaborate with children and their research.
The physical space of the hospital will also reinforce this online experience. Children will see stickers and icons posted in sections of the hospital which will present clues to the type of research they might do in support of the games they will play. For instance, the radiology department may have a treasure clue sticker near the entrance with a "Superman" image to suggest that children should investigate what can be discovered using "X-ray vision."
With regards to the 5 design points:
1. "Integrated Play" is a fundamental part of the experience for children with the treasure hunt paradigm. The degree of play can vary for adults, but there is still an element of gaming as adults try to predict their own diagnosis.
2. "Designed for everyday life" is addressed by acknowledging that hospital functions still must occur and family members still need to be informed, all of which is captured in the data model common to this model, but now all of this is done in an engaging and real-time manner which allows patients to feel they have some control and involvement with the hospital experience.
3. "See me, ask me, let me" is another fundamental component of this paradigm given that the patients can introduce notes and work to predict their diagnosis in concert and in parallel with the hospital staff.
4. "The good journey" is captured through the animated treasure map for children and process-chart for adults. They have a global picture of the entire process and the path they've travelled.
5. "Clearly defined zones" are captured for children and adults using icons in physical spaces to suggest clues for research and codes to use in games.
Thank you.
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The <Tomorrow's Hospital is a "Journey of Discovery"> concept can be realized by working with innovators in the fields of gamification, video games, electronic patient records, medical informatics, healthcare operations, wireless networking, user interface design, and others.
