Service Design Mentality in Healthcare and Education

Written by

Fei Gao

Studio Lead

---

Are We Customers or Just Patients and Parents? The Mindset Shift Healthcare and Education Need

In recent years, we at Dragonfly Lab have been working on service design projects with clients in the health care and education space. The two industries are very different, yet we can’t help but make observations about similarities they share, especially from a service design point of view.

Healthcare and education are two sectors built on the foundation of serving people. Yet, how often do we feel like valued customers in these spaces? Too often, the experience feels more like navigating a bureaucratic maze than receiving personalized care or education. Think about it. In what other service industry would you be told to wait weeks for an appointment without a hint of apology? Where else would your feedback be met with a shrug and a "that's just how it is"? Unfortunately, these scenarios are all too common in healthcare and education.

The Missing Service Mentality

The problem lies in a fundamental lack of awareness: these sectors often forget they are businesses serving paying customers. Yes, the missions are noble – healing and teaching – but that shouldn't be mutually exclusive with providing a positive customer experience.

Imagine a restaurant where the waiter failed to communicate with the chef about your requests, served you cold food, and then presented you with a hefty bill, and refuse to explain to you why. You wouldn't return, right? Yet, in healthcare and education, we often tolerate similar levels of disregard.

• Healthcare: Long wait times, rushed appointments, impersonal interactions, and difficulty navigating complex billing processes are just a few examples of how the patient experience is often overlooked.

• Education: Parents struggle to get timely feedback on their child's progress, communication with teachers can be challenging, and the curriculum may feel disconnected from individual needs.

These issues stem from a mindset that prioritizes internal processes over the needs of the people they serve. It's a system-centric approach, not a human-centric one.

The Opportunity for Transformation

But here's the good news: this can change. When healthcare and education providers recognize that they are, in fact, businesses serving customers, a world of opportunities opens up.

• Enhanced Communication: Imagine providers who take the time to explain diagnoses and treatment plans in clear, understandable language. Or teachers who proactively communicate with parents about their child's progress and challenges.

• Personalized Experiences: Have professionals hold your hands and guide you through life style changes that prevents chronic conditions in the long run. Educators can create learning environments that cater to different learning styles and abilities.

• Streamlined Processes: Online appointment scheduling, transparent billing practices, and easy access to information can significantly improve the customer experience in both sectors.

• Feedback Mechanisms: Actively seeking and responding to feedback from patients and parents can help identify areas for improvement and ensure that services are meeting their needs.

The Bottom Line

Healthcare and education are essential services, but they are also businesses. By embracing a human-centric mindset, and see the service they provide as something to be carefully designed and crafted, these sectors can not only improve the experience for patients and parents but also enhance their own efficiency and effectiveness. It's a win-win situation. In fact, the ones that can adopt this service design mentality before others could really stand out from their competition. The revamp of websites and patient/parent portal apps is a solid start, but we need to go deeper. There are so many opportunities in how we interact with customers in health care and education. As soon as we look through the service design lens, we see work to be done.

We recently worked with a school to empathize with parents and brainstorm ideas to improve their experiences while boosting student retention. We also created programs that personalize action plans with patients in managing their high blood pressure. We look forward to working with clients who’d love to challenge the status quo by taking a fresh perspective in serving people.