Nudging Healthcare in a New Direction


by Megan Fisher, Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Healthcare Technology & The Patient Experience

Our Thoughts on Intraprise's Post

In his content post this week, Todd J. Fisher, Chairman and Founder of Intraprise contemplates the intricacies of our healthcare system. He writes:

"Looking through the lens of the average patient, healthcare might take on a meaning that seems rather inconsistent with the capitalist idea of consumerism and a consumer’s agency to make choices.  If, however, we reframe the discussion and focus on the average patient as a consumer, looking through that lens, what might we find?

Healthcare has traditionally focused on engaging consumers as patients only after a need has arisen that requires attention – the delivery of treatment or care.  When providers and patients fail to communicate until after the choice of health has given way to the need for care, innumerable opportunities to facilitate health and well-being are lost. The opportunity to avoid disease states that are avoidable has been squandered." Read more…

And it’s true. Beyond basic (minimal) maintenance, most of us seek care when we’ve decided we really need it – when we’ve already identified a problem, and we’re concerned enough to visit a doctor. What does this mean for patients in clinical settings? Probably stress and anxiety. It is difficult to approach a clinical setting, wherein you are seeking care or treatment for an undiagnosed or unsolved ailment, with calm patience. Our current healthcare system sets patients up to engage in emotionally charged clinical experiences, just in the way that we have been trained to seek care. 

The system, perhaps, needs work; it would benefit from an ideological shift that centers wellness and disease prevention over treatment. But that is a tall task, and we aren’t willing to wait for the entire system to change before we attempt to improve the patient experience for those currently seeking care. So what can we do?

At Eyedog.US we believe that we can bring empathy to the table: we can work to meet patients where they are, to ensure we are resolving stress where we can – and certainly not adding more stress to an already overwhelming situation. Eyedog.US digital wayfinding adds value by delivering wayfinding that understands the user’s experience, and preemptively solves problems that are likely to pop up. What does this do? It ensures that finding your way to care is not any more stressful than it has to be.

We have the opportunity to nudge the system toward patient-centered care that prioritizes health and well-being with initiatives that have an empathetic touch.