Industry: Healthcare
Services: Application Services, Data and Analytics, Digital Consulting, Digital CX
Client Overview
Our client is a world-renowned healthcare institution, recognized for its commitment to pediatric care and cutting-edge treatments.
The Challenge
Bridging the Gap Between Treatment Plans and Patient Engagement
Despite advancements in pediatric healthcare, a persistent challenge remained: effectively engaging young patients in their treatment journeys. Traditional care models often left children feeling disempowered and disconnected from their care plans, leading to reduced treatment adherence, increased anxiety, and lower overall patient satisfaction.
The client recognized that engaging this demographic would require more than simply delivering information – it would demand a fundamentally new approach centered around empowerment, personalization, and emotional connection. They needed a digital solution that could translate complex medical processes into an intuitive, motivating experience tailored to the cognitive and emotional needs of children aged 7 to 14. Additionally, the solution had to seamlessly integrate with clinical workflows, ensuring providers could monitor and support young patients without adding an administrative burden.
Sutherland Solution
Designing a Gamified, Patient-Centered Digital Experience
Leveraging its deep expertise in human-centered design and healthcare innovation, Sutherland embarked on a collaborative journey with the client’s multidisciplinary teams.
Our approach included:
- Experience Research: Conducting extensive ethnographic research with patients, families, and clinicians to uncover insights into young patients’ emotional and behavioral needs during healthcare experiences.
- Design Thinking Workshops: Facilitating co-creation sessions to define a solution architecture that blended medical accuracy with child-friendly engagement strategies.
- Personalized, Gamified Journeys: Developing a mobile application that allowed young patients to visualize their treatment milestones as interactive quests, rewarding positive behaviors and milestones with engaging content.
- Clinical Integration: Designing clinician dashboards and communication tools within the app ecosystem, enabling healthcare providers to personalize pathways, provide encouragement, and dynamically adapt support based on patient progress.
- Emotional Resonance: Incorporating storytelling, animations, and motivational nudges that created an empathetic connection, helping reduce fear and foster resilience among young users.
Throughout, Sutherland ensured rigorous alignment with HIPAA and data security standards, creating a safe environment for young patients to engage.
The Outcome
Transforming Pediatric Care and Setting New Standards for Digital Health Engagement
The solution delivered transformational outcomes across multiple dimensions:
- Enhanced Patient Empowerment: Young patients displayed higher levels of confidence and active participation in managing their care journeys, translating into improved adherence to medical regimens.
- Clinical and Operational Impact: Providers reported a measurable decrease in patient anxiety levels, faster recovery timelines, and increased appointment compliance, contributing to better overall clinical outcomes.
- Recognition and Industry Validation: The app received prestigious industry awards, celebrating its groundbreaking approach to pediatric patient engagement and its tangible impact on care quality.
- Scalable Innovation Platform: Beyond initial deployment, the client recognized the platform’s adaptability, setting the stage for future expansion across broader age groups and diverse healthcare needs.
That’s digital outcomes delivered!
Ultimately, the collaboration between Sutherland and the client redefined how digital innovation could humanize healthcare experiences for even the youngest patients by blending empathy, technology, and design for better health outcomes.
KEY OUTCOMES
Higher patient engagement
Better clinical results
Award-winning innovation
