Hospital (Almost) Provides Valuable Patient Status

June 19, 2015 Leave a comment

In a recent visit to a hospital, a member of my family spotted this patient status screen. It’s a great concept, keeping family members up to speed on the status of their beloved patient as he or she is in surgery. While it’s a wonderful idea, the design falls flat. Take a look at the confusing status items:

1506_TuftsPatientStatusThis is an example of what I call the Design of Little Things (DoLT). So many organizations invest in good ideas, but fail to do the little things that will create a really positive experience for customers. It’s like running a marathon and then giving up right before the finish line.

In this case, the idea of a real-time status screen is great, but the hospital needs to provide status items that are meaningful for family members in the waiting room. All it would take is one more tweak and this would be a wonderful tool.

The bottom line: Don’t neglect the DoLT

 

Filed under Customer Connectedness, Customer experience Tagged with ,

About Bruce Temkin, CCXP
I'm an experience (XM) management catalyst; helping organizations improve results by engaging the hearts and minds of their employees, customers, and partners. I enjoy researching and speaking about these topics. I lead the Qualtrics XM Institute, which is the world's best job. We're igniting a global community of XM Professionals who are inspired and empowered to radically improve the human experience. To achieve this goal, my team focuses on thought leadership, training, and community building. My work is driven by a set of fundamental beliefs: 1) Everything starts and ends with human beings, so you need to understand how people think, feel, and behave; 2) XM is a discipline that needs to be woven throughout an organization's entire operating fabric; and 3) Building the XM discipline requires a combination of culture, competency, and technology.

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