I’ve taught what I call a patient-centered design mindset to pre-med students, medical students, early career physicians, and leaders of healthcare systems. I’ve often used this photograph when discussing what true patient-centeredness is all about in focusing on the patient experience.
The GE Doug Dietz Story
The story I would tell about this picture is all about Doug Dietz, a designer at GE Healthcare, who was deeply moved after witnessing a young child’s fear and distress when preparing for an MRI scan. He learned first hand seeing a young girl being so intimidated by the machine. Children would often need to be sedated in order to have the test. Dietz though decided to do what he could do to solve the problem at the source.
He partnered with the Stanford d.school and used user research and design thinking to reimagine the MRI environment. He visited daycare centers and kindergartens—places that are designed specifically for children. Instead of redesigning the very expensive machine itself, he and his team created immersive decals and a storytelling approach that turned the MRI scan into an adventure. One adventure, the one in the picture, involved transforming the MRI room into a pirate ship, where children were told they were on an exciting journey and had to stay still to avoid “rocking the boat” and if they were really still they would be able to get some of the pirate treasure. Hospital staff also dressed up and played along, making the experience fun and engaging. Patient satisfaction scores skyrocketed, sedation rates dropped, and children who once feared the MRI machine were now eager for their “adventure.”
I told that story as an inspirational example of what could be possible in transforming what is often an intimidating and sometimes outright scary experience into a positive one. The students in my classes, inspired by this and similar stories and learning to think like a designer, subsequently redesigned doctors office waiting rooms, emergency rooms, clinics, and more to make the patient experience as good as they could make it.
My own story
I needed to have an MRI done last year and it was an absolutely horrendous experience even as an adult. I needed to have my head imaged which required me to have a cage of sorts placed over my head. However, the cage was too small and my head could only fit by moving my nose into one of the holes in the cage. That itself caused me some serious claustrophobia and that was worsened when I was moved into the MRI machine itself with it’s deafening sounds. I had no idea how long it would last, nor when it was finished. At one point, it seemed to stop and I was partially moved out of the machine but my hopes that the procedure was over were dashed when I realized that they simply needed to inject a contrast dye, and I was moved back into the machine. When it was finally finished, I was exhausted but so relieved that it was over.
So you can imagine my concern about needing to have an other MRI done this year. I was dreading the day. However, this time, I had a Radiologic Technologist who was amazing. I told him about my previous experience with the cage so he adjusted the setup so that my nose wasn’t right up against the cage. He also told me how long the procedure would take and, over the headphones that I had on, he talked me through the entire thing, telling me that the next “picture” as he called it would take ten seconds, then the next one would take two minutes, and that I had three more pictures to go and I’d be done. He also frequently asked me how it was going and that I was going great.
I honestly got so relaxed that I truly enjoyed the experience—the fascinating wildly different frequencies of sound, the vibration, etc. I was in a rock band when I was young and I used to love the sound and feeling of loud sound on my body. This MRI reminded me of that. That fact that I could even entertain that thought was due to me being in such relaxed state entirely thanks to the wonderful support I received from that amazing healthcare professional who made the patient experience a major focus.
It’s so rare in healthcare to have a positive experience like that so I wanted to share it here to celebrate it and encourage healthcare professionals to double-down on creating a supportive and engaging patient experience.
Imagine that—a great MRI experience. While I didn’t get to go into a pirate ship, I did get to experience the adult version thanks so the stellar work of a healthcare professional.