About
Richard Huff is an award-winning emergency medical services provider, journalist, UX researcher and designer who helps healthcare companies improve how they deliver patient care.
Huff is focused on the patient journey. What they go through. What they feel. What their pain points are in interacting with the healthcare system. Huff uses the power of storytelling to take users on a journey from a complex problem to a simple solution.
His goal is to help healthcare companies truly be patient centric
Richard Huff is an award-winning emergency medical services provider, journalist, UX researcher and designer who helps healthcare companies improve how they deliver patient care.
Huff is focused on the patient journey. What they go through. What they feel. What their pain points are in interacting with the healthcare system. Huff uses the power of storytelling to take users on a journey from a complex problem to a simple solution.
His goal is to help healthcare companies truly be patient centric
The Empathetic EMT
The Challenge
EMS providers delivering pre-hospital care often talk about being patient centric operations. However, rarely do they or their employers do a deep dive into what a patient goes through when dialing 911 because they’re experiencing a medical emergency. The goal was to create a system for EMS providers to deliver more empathetic care to patients by better understanding what it’s like to be a patient. The end result was a learning program that could be delivered to any individual organization or presented at large-scale EMS conferences.
EMS providers delivering pre-hospital care often talk about being patient centric operations. However, rarely do they or their employers do a deep dive into what a patient goes through when dialing 911 because they’re experiencing a medical emergency. The goal was to create a system for EMS providers to deliver more empathetic care to patients by better understanding what it’s like to be a patient. The end result was a learning program that could be delivered to any individual organization or presented at large-scale EMS conferences.
The Process
I led the entire project from concept to final design.
Learn – We needed to truly understand what a person experiences when dialing 911, their interactions with EMS providers, and their experiences during transport to a hospital. To gather data, we had to talk with them. We needed to know what they felt, what they experienced, what happened. We also needed to know what they thought would make it better.
The Study – 226 people took our survey of 19 questions, which dug deep into their experiences in calling 911 for an ambulance. We gained key insight into their estimation of the severity of their situation, they’re emotional state at the time, their experience with EMS providers, and their trip to the hospital.
Key findings - 50% reported their emotions were very high before calling.
Key words used: Fear, worry, terror, confused, anxious, emotional, helplessness
What they thought EMS providers could do better: Listen, be attentive, communication, be nicer and more calm
I led the entire project from concept to final design.
Learn – We needed to truly understand what a person experiences when dialing 911, their interactions with EMS providers, and their experiences during transport to a hospital. To gather data, we had to talk with them. We needed to know what they felt, what they experienced, what happened. We also needed to know what they thought would make it better.
The Study – 226 people took our survey of 19 questions, which dug deep into their experiences in calling 911 for an ambulance. We gained key insight into their estimation of the severity of their situation, they’re emotional state at the time, their experience with EMS providers, and their trip to the hospital.
Key findings - 50% reported their emotions were very high before calling.
Key words used: Fear, worry, terror, confused, anxious, emotional, helplessness
What they thought EMS providers could do better: Listen, be attentive, communication, be nicer and more calm
Ideation
It was clear from the study that while respondents appreciated the EMS providers and generally felt good about the experience, the pre-hospital care providers did fall short in areas that were key to understanding the patient journey: Listening, attentive, communication.
The goal was to create a product that would expose these issues to EMS providers, make them aware of the specifics, and provide tools and techniques they can incorporate in the field.
After brainstorming, it was decided that the best delivery method for this project would be a class explaining the journey of the patient and ending with tips for the provider.
It was clear from the study that while respondents appreciated the EMS providers and generally felt good about the experience, the pre-hospital care providers did fall short in areas that were key to understanding the patient journey: Listening, attentive, communication.
The goal was to create a product that would expose these issues to EMS providers, make them aware of the specifics, and provide tools and techniques they can incorporate in the field.
After brainstorming, it was decided that the best delivery method for this project would be a class explaining the journey of the patient and ending with tips for the provider.
The Patient Journey
