We spend a lot of time designing the bridge, but not enough time thinking about the people who are crossing it. Dr. Prabhjot Singh
U-SENTRIC COMPANY PROFILE U-Sentric was founded to narrow the gap between companies and the people they serve. Since 2007, we have been helping companies better understand their end-users by providing insights captured through nontraditional forms of research such as observational and contextual inquiries. INSIGHTS DESIGN INNOVATION U-Sentric provides qualitative insights U-Sentric supports the translation of insights U-Sentric supports innovation efforts about patients, their context, and their into patient-driven innovations through various geared towards patients through ecosystem. forms of design coaching, training, and more. 3 1
MARKET RESEARCH VS. DESIGN RESEARCH Collecting Qualitative Patient Insights revolves around gathering deep insights into your Patient’s attitudes, behaviour, and context in order to guide the strategic development of solutions, communication campaigns, care systems, protocols, and more. This is often mistaken with market research, which differs on key aspects: 01 WHAT PATIENTS SAY WHAT PATIENTS DO 02 HOW PATIENTS USE A PRODUCT WHAT PATIENTS BUY 03 LARGE SAMPLE SIZE SMALL SAMPLE SIZE 04 BROAD INSIGHTS DEEP INSIGHTS 05 FOCUSED ON DATA FOCUSED ON BEHAVIOUR AND CONTEXT 06 UNDERSTANDING THROUGH LOGIC UNDERSTANDING THROUGH EMPATHY 07 DEFINING DESIGNS DEFINING SEGMENTS 08 EXAMPLE: ONLINE ONE-WAY SURVEYS SURVEYS EXAMPLE: OBSERVATIONS, DIARY STUDIES 4
GATHERING INSIGHTS Patient insights can span broad and diverse topics. Some of the most important insights to understand are the patient’s context, his or her communication needs, how they use and store their medications, their dreams and aspirations, and the ecosystem they interact in. 1. CONTEXT What does the context of a patient look like and how does it influence their condition? 2. COMMUNICATION What kind of information do patients need and where do they go to find it? Who do patients talk to about their condition? 3. MEDICATION How does a patient use and store their medication? How are medical solutions perceived by the patients and how can they be improved? 4. ASPIRATION What do patients want to achieve and how do they perceive the hurdles created by their condition? 5. ECOSYSTEM What does the social ecosystem of the patient look like, and how important are the different nodes in this system? 5 What kind of patient journey has the patient gone through?
USING INSIGHTS Qualitative patient insights can be used in many ways. First and foremost they are used to better understand patients and optimise their care. Secondly, these insights can be used to validate ideas and concepts with target patients. Lastly, when a product has been developed, user insights can be used to optimise how the solution is communicated and marketed. DEEPLY UNDERSTAND TARGET PATIENTS We can help companies better understand a target patient in their own context. These insights can be used in new product development or in marketing and communication strategies. FIND NEW OPPORTUNITIES TO PROVIDE CARE By deeply understanding the patient, we can help companies come up with new and innovative ways to provide care. VALIDATE IDEAS & CONCEPTS When companies have new ideas on how to provide care to patients, we can quickly test these concepts and ideas to verify whether or not they are viable. TEST PRODUCTS & SERVICES Once a product or service has been created, we can test these products with patients in order to , for example, see how they can be improved to increase adoption.
A GLIMPSE INTO OUR TOOLBOX
CONTEXTUAL INQUIRIES The contextual interview is a type of interview used in situations where we want to gather information about the environment the individual lives and/or works in. This tool is more useful when the individual and the context are inherently linked, e.g., a surgeon in an operating room or a teacher in a classroom. OUTCOMES : Contextual inquiries will yield deeper insights because the researcher will have control of the interactions. Additionally, the information is less prone to interpretation as the researcher can ask clarifying questions.
OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES Observational studies revolve around intently observing individuals as they perform specific tasks. The goal of an observational study is to deeply understand how something is used in its intended context-of-use. OUTCOMES : Observational studies will yield a very specific use-pattern of individuals as they perform tasks/their work/..., but it will also allow you to take an ‘inside’ look into certain activities and interactions. This ‘inside’ look will provide insights into actions the user takes for granted, and solutions the individual uses to compensate for lacking features.
DIARY STUDIES Diary Studies are a form of longitudinal research involving a fixed group of participants. These participants are asked to report on activities and actions related to a specific topic of interest to the researchers, and these reports then form a log that can be analysed to find problems, opportunities, and more. OUTCOMES : As diary studies are based on self-reporting, such a study will yield a vast amount information about what patients deem important to report about their disease. This provides an unfiltered look into the everyday lives of a patient.
WALK-A-MILE STUDIES Walk-a-mile studies are useful to map how individuals experience a service. By accompanying somebody as they go through the motions, the observer is able to ask questions as actions and interactions unfold. This provides an in-depth mapping of the patient’s journey, but has the additional benefit of being able to dig deeper if the need would occur. OUTCOMES : walk-a-mile studies are best used to map the experience and actions an individual takes over a certain period of time or during an experience. It will enable the researcher to gain empathy with the patients and their experiences as they will do the same things as the patients do during their journey. The outcome is a detailed journey report, with insights into specific action points.
USER TESTING User Testing is a valuable tool to thoroughly map how target demographics interact with certain solutions, be it digital or physical. As the goal here is to understand usage, we take a deep dive into the interactions the solution should enable, and how these interactions are obstructed or could be improved. These tests also yield insights into features or other solutions the user wants, but are missing. OUTCOMES : A deep understanding of user-flows, usability problems, improvement opportunities, an insight in how users actually use and understand your product and an insight into how users value various features a solution might bring.
CO-CREATION Co-Creation workshops are best used to uncover how individuals think about certain problems and solutions. These workshops entail bringing target users together to gather feedback and input about how they would interact with new concepts. Co-creation workshops should only be used as an addition to interviews and observations, and not as the foundation of all patient or user research. OUTCOMES : Co-creation workshops will yield insights into the unmet wants and needs of users, how they would use solutions to solve problems, the train of thought of potential customers, and potential validation of new concept and ideas.
WHAT ELSE DO WE DO?
DESIGN Whether the outcome is a digital or physical solution, we can support teams during their translation of insights into new concepts and ideas by developing concept drawings, blueprints, service outlines, and more. CONCEPT CREATION 1 To get a basic idea of what a product or service looks like, we create concepts that represent the value of the finished product to the potential patients. DIGITAL BLUEPRINTS 2 With digital products there are many aspects to take into consideration, and U- Sentric has extensive experience in the creation of feature hierarchies, Information architectures, user flows and more which are needed to create digital solutions. CONCEPT DESIGNS 3 If a higher level of tangibility is needed we can create those as well. This can range from clickable prototypes to 3D printed prototypes. SERVICE DESIGN 4 We can provide the groundwork of what your service would look like and how the patient journey will unfold.
PATIENT CENTRICITY COACHING To support our partners in adopting a more patient-centered approach, we provide trainings and thorough bootcamps. These trainings and bootcamps explain how to collect deep patient insights, analyse them, and use them to better serve patients and stakeholders alike. The trainings we provide can be adapted for those teams or departments starting with patient centricity, or those that have a good grasp of the process and want to learn more. PERSONAL TRAININGS & COACHING 1 We provide in-depth trainings and coaching to companies, teams and individuals wanting to learn how to apply human-centered design. These training sessions can range from 2-hour inspiration sessions to longer coaching sessions focused on supporting a team over an extended period of time. BOOTCAMPS 2 For companies that want to immerge a larger group, we tailor make bootcamps that take employees through the entire process. This is hands-on and focused on applying human-centered methods and techniques.
SOME OF OUR CASES
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