Transforming healthcare for children and their families: Doug Dietz at TEDxSanJoseCA 2012

I thought I'd start with this, which is kind of the a little bit of a thread or the kind of the heartbeat of of my story today. And you've heard a lot about the

today. And you've heard a lot about the design thinking and the design process that a lot of these folks have gone through, very powerful tools. And I just want to emphasize that empathy at the

beginning for me is something that I think is really what is the heartbeat of the project when you move forward. And a

lot of times when you move forward into the iteration and prototyping and some of the design phases that you go through, you need to actually refocus back and see what the empathy was that actually got you started at the

beginning. So I thought I would just

beginning. So I thought I would just share share a quick story with you guys. And this is a little tough story to tell, but I'm going to give it a shot. Um

So I had just finished um designing a big MR scanner. How many people here have an MR scan?

It's a big old MRI scan. Oh my gosh, a lot of you guys. So don't charge the stage.

Um so I had just finished uh designing this big MR scanner and I was very proud. I think I'd worked on this thing

proud. I think I'd worked on this thing for probably about 2 years. And you

know, doing I'm an industrial designer and I was doing the enclosures and the controls and displays and the coils and patient transfer, um that kind of stuff.

And I was so excited to see this uh the first product that we installed. So I

went went to see it in its actual environment in the hospital. So I was just running through this hospital to check out my new product that I had just finished. I'm really excited. And I kind

finished. I'm really excited. And I kind of almost like barged in, you know, took my wallet and all the metal stuff out of my pockets, you know, and ran in and was, you know, with my baby, you know, and I was just a proud papa basically.

And um I remember the technologist coming in and saying, you know, we have a patient that's going to be coming through. So could you step out for a

through. So could you step out for a little bit? I said, "Sure, no problem.

little bit? I said, "Sure, no problem.

I'll come back in, we can and later."

And I remember walking out and I was standing in the hallway and this is kind of what I saw down the hallway. I saw

this young family coming down the hallway and I'm just standing in the hallway and they're coming toward and I can tell as they get closer, the little girl is weeping.

And as they even get closer to me, I notice the father just leans down and just goes, "Remember, we've talked about this.

You can be brave."

And they turn to walk into the MR suite and I kind of follow them in and I still remember it like it was today, guys. I'm

standing behi- behind the little girl.

She's probably about seven and I'm looking into this environment that I was just standing in. I was just in there in this environment just, you know, doing my happy dance, right? And um

she just freezes.

And I looking at her angle and just seeing in that same environment where I was just standing, I realize that this is something totally different.

On the wall is that, you know, horrible warning sticker. You know, it's got the

warning sticker. You know, it's got the magnet and the big exclamation point.

It's got that yellow and black tape like on the thing like, you know, almost like a accident scene.

Um you know, everything looks really kind of like beige. You know, it's got this kind of weird colored flooring and, you know, just kind of everything's bleached out. And then the room itself

bleached out. And then the room itself is kind of dark and it kind of has those flickering fluorescent lights.

And the machine itself that I designed basically looked like a brick with a hole in it.

And then of course an MRI for you folks that have had one, um it is just a terrible noise. So, the

little girl just starts to really cry.

I mean, she's just breaking down.

And I can tell you guys, I'm standing behind and I see these parents.

And for you guys that are parents, they're looking at each other.

They don't have to say a word because they don't know how they're going to get their child through this.

So that was a huge awakening for me. So

the challenge that we have here is you got that little guy and he needs to go through a scan in that.

And what does that look like to you guys? What does that machine look like?

guys? What does that machine look like?

Big big clam, looks like a stapler.

I mean it it looks like a transformer.

It's just ridiculous. And guys, this is a color picture.

This is a color picture. So really this um this experience that the family goes through and the child goes through looks like those little footprints on the bottom. It looks like a anxiety curve.

bottom. It looks like a anxiety curve.

And that really starts when they first understand that they need a scan or they're in their car coming to the hospital. And it just starts to ramp up

hospital. And it just starts to ramp up as they get to the hospital and you know how it is. You get on like nine elevators and you follow the blue line on the floor and you get to the you know, you get to the site and when they see that when they come in contact with

this piece of equipment, you know, the tears start to come way up in there. And

actually at the bottom of that arc, it really doesn't even flatten out that much.

Um and just working with these these young families and these parents, I um spent some time with this one father and I remember they had to sedate his his son and in this modality nuclear

medicine, they have to sedate the children about 80% of the time so they can scan them.

And he was carrying his his his little boy out to the parking lot because he had had sedation and I'm walking out with him just to thank him.

And all of a sudden he just stops.

And he's got this kind of weird look on his face and I'm like, "What's up?" And he goes, "You know,

"What's up?" And he goes, "You know, I forgot where I parked my car."

Why do you think he forgot where he parked his car?

Absolutely. I mean it's just you know, and my hypothesis and some of the ideas that I even had at the beginning, things like they would be worried about, you know, are they going to diagnose what's wrong with their

child?

Is insurance going to pay for this?

You know, is my boss going to get mad cuz I had to take off work again? All

those things that I thought he'd be worried about and the family be worried about, their number one thing was how am I going to get my child through this?

So this is where we started and I just thought I'd throw this in as kind of a cool picture.

Um this is our first brainstorming session at a local daycare. That's kind of cool. And you

daycare. That's kind of cool. And you

guys probably notice here some of my very young designers, even younger than some of the high school kids that came up here.

I went to the source. Um and what was really neat about this one, I remember this little boy in the white there and he was actually had the crayons and he was actually just sticking them in the cracks.

He wasn't coloring like some of the other children that were down the way there and I realized right off the bat when I was looking at this little boy and he's just sticking those crayons in the crack that I had to learn more about

some of the developmental stages of children and some of these things that would cause the anxiety um for this to see if I could make it better. So

you know, I tried myself and I told you guys, you know, I basically failed at my job when I did the other when I did the scanner. So I got some experts. So

scanner. So I got some experts. So

here's a Fern Shupek up at the top. I

love her pose. She's very passionate um and she's the director of the Betty Brinn Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where I'm from. And um

both her and her team came in and we did lots of brainstorming sessions actually at the museum up with the kids down.

They have a really cool area. Um these

are actually most of the people that are on that picture on the right there um our customers. Actually bringing the

our customers. Actually bringing the customers into this innovation, this ideation session with us to come up with some really strong solutions. So we have the director of radiology there,

Kathleen Capsen and Sarah's a child life specialist and Steve um is a nurse. Just

great team to do that and these are just some of the the sketches here and you know what came very apparent to me um kind of in the middle of this especially

working with the kids is what is three kitchen chairs and a blanket?

Fort.

Castle.

Boat, shelter, truck, you name it. It's

everything and how long would they play with it?

Forever.

Because they've got this fertile imagination. They've got this place

imagination. They've got this place where they can go to do this. So what

can we do with that? Um this is actually a picture of my desk when I was working on this that I threw in here just to remind me that you know there's a lot of the right brain that went into this particular project and I want to walk

you through a couple of the rooms um that we developed for these children to help them get through this situation. Um

these are some of our pilot rooms that are actually at the University of Pittsburgh, a UPMC um hospital and this one right here this one actually is the same machine as you saw that was the stapler.

We just worked a little bit on the design, softened it out. We have a ring now instead of that big big clamp, but what's magical about this room is um you got to imagine you know these pictures don't really do it justice. You

got to imagine when you go in there there's this like light blue sky that's cascading down. We tickle all the

cascading down. We tickle all the senses. We have aromatherapy in there

senses. We have aromatherapy in there and I believe in this one we have kind of a like a water scent that's kind of a nice kind of a a soothing scent. It has

a little lavender in it kind of relaxing to do that. We have um of course some of the graphics. So on the back you'll see

the graphics. So on the back you'll see there's a waterfall that cascades off the wall. It comes down underneath the

the wall. It comes down underneath the scanner and there's a koi pond that comes out below. What's magical about this part is on the rocks that are the border actually come and they come down

the room and they go out the hallway.

And what's so cute is you'll see the little boys and girls and they're going like this.

They're walking on the stones, right?

They're coming into the room. They're

looking back and they're going, "Dad, Mom, you No, you got to get on the rocks."

rocks." And they're coming into the room.

Three chairs and a blanket, right?

They're in the special mode. They come

into this room, guys, and the table actually lowers down into the water. Looks like it lowers down into

water. Looks like it lowers down into the water and it's a hollowed-out canoe.

So, there's a reason this hollowed-out log that they're laying on their back and they're and they're and they're and then they tell them, you know, this is kind of like a boat and you need to hold still. It's real important so you don't

still. It's real important so you don't rock the boat. And this is the magic. If

you really hold still, the fish will start jumping over the top of you. And these kids are like statues.

of you. And these kids are like statues.

They're frozen.

And of course, you know, our detectors there slowly start to go around these kids and they just love it. And for a modality like this where they they sedate them maybe 80% of the time, I

think this machine's been in for a couple of years now or about a little over a year and they've sedated like two kids.

Like point oh something something.

Oh, here's a couple more. Um this one is a This one's pirate adventure. This one

is It's funny. I tell I say they're all my favorite, so get used to that. This

So, this is my favorite. Um So, when you So, when you walk into this room, you come in on a dock and the floor's kind of this water color is right here. You

walk in, you come in on a dock. There's

a shipwreck that's in the corner.

There's some sand castles. Um it's just beautiful. And then there's actually a

beautiful. And then there's actually a plank there that you can see that you actually walk the plank to go on to the scanner.

Of course, right? And what's kind of magical about this one? We couldn't

affect the design as much on this one um as we did on the nuclear scanner. But if

you look really close, that picture on the bottom there, that black and white picture is the same room as the top one. And if you look at the we call the bore, if you look at the circle where you go through, we put the steering wheel there with

those radio handles on there.

And look at that. That's the same piece of equipment. Doesn't it look like we

of equipment. Doesn't it look like we stretched it out like maybe 20% or something? I mean, it looks so much

something? I mean, it looks so much bigger than that one. It's the same piece of equipment. Um and this one, the story that goes with this is pretty powerful. Um

powerful. Um there were a bunch of cabinets in this room.

And when we're talking to kids with the things that scared them in the room, this particular one they said, you know, that reminds me of the dentist.

Not a good thing. Um so, we we we got a little creative and we made a tiki hut.

You can see a little top of it there. We

did a tiki hut there and then for aromatherapy in there, we put pina colada.

And what's so cute about that is the parents when they come in, you know, when they're they're in the they're in usually the child's playing with, you know, around we have characters on the wall that they're hugging and they're naming. It's really cute. And you'll see

naming. It's really cute. And you'll see the parents they're looking at each other and they go, is that what I think it is? Is that

it is? Is that And you you go, yeah, that's pi- And they go, can we have one? So, no.

Sorry, we know that would help you get through, but no. I'm sorry you can't have one. But, um I was actually, um you

have one. But, um I was actually, um you know, what's nice about that too is when the children see their parents, you know, kind of elbowing each other thinking of, you know, about their honeymoon in Bermuda or something, you know, having a pina colada, they're

smiling and the children are really picking up on this. And I learned for sure if you've got the child, you get the parent. If you get the parent, you can

parent. If you get the parent, you can get the child cuz they're always looking for that reaction, which is really cool.

And the story that goes with this one is, so I'm talking with the the parents about the pina colada, actually. And um

the little girl had already just had her scan.

And um I'm talking with the parents and the little girl keeps coming up and she's pulling on her mom's shirt.

And about on the second or third time, you know, the mom, you know, kind of interrupts and she goes, "What is it, honey?" And the little girl looks up

honey?" And the little girl looks up and she says, "Can we come back tomorrow?"

So, I'm just you know, that's a pretty powerful thing.

You know, I had gone from you know, really thinking I had and I did screw up to having this little girl say, "Can we come back tomorrow?"

So, unfortunately, I was doing exactly what I'm doing here.

And I looked down at the floor and I can see the tears hitting the floor, you know, and I'm just going, "Oh, man, this sucks."

sucks." And, you know, I don't have a Kleenex like I don't have now. Uh

and but I look over and there standing next to me is the technologist.

And I see that she's shaking.

I'm going, "Oh, no, this is not good."

So, I look up at her.

She's bawling.

She has mascara coming down her face.

And I'm thinking to myself, "Oh, man, this is not good." I can see my performance review now, you know, uh you know, "Next year, try not to make the customer

cry."

cry." So, um you know, I it was a that was a tough experience, but I remember going in later that day and talking with her and she was sitting in the room. Her little it's hard to see in here, but she her window she looks

out the sand castle.

And I put my hand on her shoulder and I just said, "I'm really sorry. I

really didn't" and she stops me and she looks up and she really just says, "You don't understand.

This experience reminded me of why I got into health care.

So, with this environment of you know, it's probably like a lot of us that work in industry and stuff. You know, there's all this crap. You know, there's HIPAA laws, there's all of this stuff that just gets in the way. You know, our

sophisticated medical equipment is really hard to work on. You know, it all that stuff gets in the way.

She had forgotten why she got into health care and it was to help kids.

So, that's what she got. So, you know, though I really had this kind of very specific focus on children and the families, I I didn't even quite realize

that it really cascaded out to the to the parents really good. Um I have a couple more I'd love to show you here.

Um this one's cool. This one actually is Coral City. This one is actually in an

Coral City. This one is actually in an emergency room. So, can you imagine the

emergency room. So, can you imagine the hectic craziness of emergency room and all of a sudden here's this nautical adventure. And you can see it has these

adventure. And you can see it has these beautiful blue walls and they dim the lights. And in this one there's a disco

lights. And in this one there's a disco ball on the back and we hit it with white light and it looks like bubbles everywhere.

It's unbelievable. Um and in this one I think they have like this really subtle harp music. I mean, it's mesmerizing,

harp music. I mean, it's mesmerizing, especially in MR. It's really cool. And

of course, they get on a yellow submarine and they go up and they go in.

Um this one of course is my favorite.

Yeah. Um this is uh being a camper too, this is um this is cozy camp. This is

really kind of neat. So, you come into the room, you can see it's kind of got that purple wall. It's kind of like the evening. There's a thousand stars. You

evening. There's a thousand stars. You

can almost see that they're moving on the walls and the ceiling. And um the child comes in and that table lowers down and it's a sleeping bag.

And they get on the sleeping bag and they go up and they go inside the tent.

And what's really neat about this is the actual technologists can't be in the room and this is a PET CT scanner. Um

so, they actually go over here in their camper and that's their window that the tech look out. It's kind of cool. It's really

look out. It's kind of cool. It's really

neat. Um

So So that's that's pretty fun and that's a cool picture. Um

cool picture. Um and you know You know if you're not having fun it's half your fault.

You know? You know this is sometimes you know this kind of stuff can um even though it's very empathetic and there's some really neat stuff in here and there's a real meaning. You can have a lot of fun and we did this with some

of the development team um that worked with us which is really neat. And

probably the last thing I just want to leave um you guys with here is really that um when you design for meaning good things will happen.

And sometimes if you go the other way around which a lot of times we do where you're you're designing for money or you're designing for some of these other things and you're hoping that meaning comes it doesn't work that way.

And though we got the sedation to be um reduced significantly here and I think their patient patient satisfaction in this hospital went up 92%.

And their patient volume also went up so they're able to get more children in in a day which makes the um the actual waiting list and some of the time that you have to wait for a

scan a lot less. So the you know a lot of people ask me things like are you really proud of those things which I think I really am and they ask me if I kind of measure

the success of this on those things and I'll be honest with you I don't.

What I really think I would measure myself in this kind of a project is have I had influence on that conversation in the car on the ride home for that

family?

And if I had that opportunity to make that a different kind of conversation for this family and you've seen some things already in this great some great talks on how you interact with health care. If it

is just a totally different conversation in that car, and it's maybe one of those things where they just embrace the experience a little bit better cuz a lot of times in health care,

you know, this is like a speed bump in the road for these folks.

And if we can just make that a little bit smaller speed bump, if we can turn it into more of an experience, I think it's going to be a real positive thing. Thank

you very much.