Driving Change in Complex Social Systems: How to Design Healthcare Pathways

DS 116: Proceedings of the DESIGN2022 17th International Design Conference

Year: 2022
Editor: Mario Štorga, Stanko Škec, Tomislav Martinec, Dorian Marjanović
Author: Alix Feldman (1), Fran
Series: DESIGN
Institution: 1: Technical University of Denmark, Denmark; 2: Oticon Medical, Denmark; 3: University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom
Section: Design for Healthcare
Page(s): 1263-1272
DOI number: https://doi.org/10.1017/pds.2022.128
ISSN: 2732-527X (Online)

Abstract

How does change occur in healthcare settings? In this paper, we take a design-based approach to healthcare research. From researcher-patient interactions to information sharing between practitioners, we examine how clinical research can mediate a change of routines and illuminate potential new system structures. Using a hospital-based cognitive care clinic as an example, we demonstrate how the inclusion of new actors, tools and resources was able to shed light on the prevalence of hearing loss among mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients and lay the framework for new care pathways.

Keywords: healthcare design, complex systems, human behaviour, hearing care, cognitive decline