Service design strategy for a private paediatrician’s clinic, snowballing into a civic health service for children.
A paediatrician’s valuable service is very close to me since I am a mother to a toddler. This project comes from my own lived experience as a parent getting this service. I have tried to be as unbiased as possible by interviewing a few other parents, the doctor and factoring in the role of the clinic’s support staff (receptionist).
This project demonstrated how observing a relatively small set up keenly could help understand bigger pain points, leading to broader and scalable solutions.
The first two years of a baby’s life are very crucial from the baby’s as well as the parents’ perspective. The baby tries to cope with a new world and parenthood is physically demanding and a rollercoaster ride of emotions. A maximum number of vaccinations against infectious diseases take place during the first two years. Vaccination also happens to be one of the most expensive services offered by private clinics. Therefore, I decided on the service of vaccination as the focus of this project.
Background about vaccination
Vaccination is a safe, effective and proven way to develop immunity against preventable diseases. Most of the vaccines are given in the first two years of a child’s life. It is a periodic process which has the potential to improve.
A semi-structured interview with the paediatrician gave me more information about how vaccination as a service is delivered. A few excerpts from the interview are listed below:
1. Most babies understand and become aware of the clinic environment at 6–7 months of age. Generally, they develop a sense of dislike towards coming to the clinic, or when they see the doctor.
2. Vaccines are ordered and purchased as per the number of patients considering their expiry date, so there is no wastage. A date of vaccine is given to the parents and it’s their responsibility to get the child to the clinic.
3. Around 95% of the patients follow instructions and do not interfere with the doctor’s work
Understanding the parents
Parents mostly rely on family, friends, gynaecologist (where the baby was born) while choosing a paediatrician. They are the primary decision-makers who act as facilitators for their children while experiencing the service. There is a high emotional quotient involved in their journey, so it is important to understand them.
I crafted three parent personas based on interviews with the doctor, the receptionist and personal experience. They were written as if the parents were narrating their experiences. This made their stories come alive and relatable.
A few pointers from the parent stories were categorised as per their needs, price sensitivity and other behavioural data.
Service blueprint from the parents’ perspective
Overall, the parents feel stressed while getting their child vaccinated
Understanding the kids
Most of the vaccinations happen during the first two years after a child is born. During this time, the child is too young to express what he/she feels. By the age of 6 months, they start forming certain opinions about people, places and become aware of their being.
The children are the actual users as they experience the ultimate goal of the service — vaccination and prevention of diseases. It is important to understand them since the parents and the entire paediatrics stream revolves around them.
What the child experiences currently at the clinic through all five senses
Children personas were created by imagining how a child would narrate his/her vaccination experience at the clinic.
The vaccination journey from a child’s perspective revealed that it’s a continuous cycle that a child dreads.
Children feel scared about visiting the doctor’s clinic
Vaccination is necessary and no amount of change will stop the pain caused by it. But we could at least aim to reduce it.
Changing the situation
1. The parents’ world revolves around the child
2. The paediatrician strives to provide great quality medical facilities to the child
3. But the child, who is at the focal point, is scared
Objective
To build a vaccination experience which is less fearful for the child, reassuring for the parent, strengthens doctor-patient relationships, fulfilling for the receptionist and ultimately builds proactive care for the child.
The child is so young that explaining the importance of vaccination becomes impossible. A number of small changes that bring joy to the child can be incorporated to bring about a positive change in the overall experience.
I suggested a few quick fixes at the clinic that would enhance the immediate experience.
Creating small moments of joy at every stage in the clinic
A visit to the doctor’s clinic starts on a low note and ends on a low note for the child. Creating small moments of joy throughout the child’s journey inside the clinic could reduce the fear to a large extent. I took the top view of the clinic and how the child navigates through it. A comparison of two journey maps inside the clinic — current vs possible has been represented in the images below.
Gain points
Doctor
1. More parents would be willing to bring their child to the doctor who takes such great care at every stage
2. If the process is streamlined, more children could get vaccinated thus saving time and effort
Kids
1. Kids would remember the small joys from the visit and not just the vaccination pain
2. Engaging in small activities at the clinic would reduce waiting room boredom
Receptionist
1. Reduced strain of pacifying and controlling the crying children and anxious parents
Something to look forward to for the children
Current scenario
Children and parents feel isolated and need someone to share their experiences with. The vaccination cycles of all kids born around the same date will coincide. The receptionist will schedule the date and time for all the kids born around the same time together.
1. Kids belonging to the same age group get vaccination appointments together
2. They meet the same parent-child combination a few times and build familiarity
3. Children and parents might start conversing organically with others
4. Converse with others who are sailing in the same boat and reduce stress
5. Kids get playmates while waiting in the clinic for their turn
Above idea from the parents’ perspective
1. The next vaccination appointment is written down in the health file at the time of the current vaccination. Parents might forget the date or may not refer to the file
2. Since most parents use smartphones, so reminders can be sent digitally
3. Once the baby is born, vaccination dates get fixed according to the birth date
4. A full schedule of all the vaccines can be synced with the parents’ phone calendar
5. The parent gets a reminder for the first vaccination
6. Baby gets the first vaccination and the same cycle follows
Gain points for the parent
No need for remembering or manually setting reminders for vaccination
Gain points for the doctor
1. Would know exactly how many patients would come
2. Buy the exact number of vaccines
3. Save on storage and wastage cost
Gain points for the receptionist
Reduced effort of scheduling or reminding parents about vaccination
Could this idea be elaborated into something bigger?
Facts
1. It is compulsory for every person in India to have a unique identification number called ‘Aadhaar card’
2. It is connected to the person’s mobile number and email ID
3. Every birth is registered with the local ward office with the parents’ Aadhaar card details
How will this happen
1. Vaccination schedule would be digitally sent to every parent and synced with their phone calendar
2. Timely reminders from the ward office would be sent
3. More number of babies will get vaccinated
4. Special benefits could be given to children who have taken all the vaccines. e.g.: Preference during school admissions
5. A small step towards having healthier children
Healthy children make a healthier society
The above idea has the potential to snowball into something bigger that can be implemented at a ward office level. It may have a strong social angle to it.
A holistic health app for tracking the child’s health progress which will help the civic bodies to keep a track of children’s health in their respective wards.
Basic features for an MVP:
1. Vaccination schedule for the child
2. Timely reminders for health check-ups
3. Tips for maintaining good health — nutrition, Dos and Don’ts
4. FAQs for common queries — busting myths
5. Collection of data of the child and parents
6. Tracking weight and height of children
All babies living in the same area would get vaccinated together, leading to interactions between parents, thus instilling a sense of togetherness and support.
Phase 2
1. Tie-ups with private practitioners and doctors to gather data of children receiving care in their clinics
2. Ability to track factors responsible for a child’s health such as the geographical location, season, gender of the child, socio-economic status of the family etc
3. EMI system for all the vaccinations up to two years to reduce the immediate financial burden on the parents especially in the first two years
This way, the civic authorities would have a central health database of children and interventions could be implemented at points where children fall ill more often.
I am aware that the above solution needs to be detailed out further through the DVF lens, stakeholder buy-in and user experience — but I have parked it for another day! However, through the medium of this project, I learnt how even a small idea could have the potential to trigger something that has a bigger impact on society.
