How can we effectively deliver bad news at the society level?
Adapting to new public health measures is a shared experience that a lot of us are currently going through. We each were given different pieces of information at different timepoints, in distinct tones and formats. And yet, many of us are experiencing the same emotions.
Where I live, in Ontario, Canada, this past week has been filled with uncertainty and headlines surrounding new local COVID-19 public health measures.
Reactions were mixed, but overall, a mist of fatigue and anxiety seemed to cast over our communities, widely expressed through various social media platforms.
In my own experience, I found out about the new public health measures through Canadian news outlets on Instagram. I was the one who relayed this information to my household members, and they each began to share it with their networks. Throughout all of these points of interaction, the delivery of the message was coupled with emotions that were affecting us. The way the Instagram post was worded affected how I perceived the situation. In the same way, my worried tone when sharing the news affected how others in my family received it.
Adapting to new public health measures is a shared experience that a lot of us are currently going through. We each were given different pieces of information at different timepoints, in distinct tones and formats. And yet, many of us are experiencing the same emotions. This makes me think about how framing and delivery of a piece of information (in this case, a pretty consequential one) affects the range of emotions we feel and how it impacts our reaction.
In the traditional context of healthcare, there can be a lot at stake when delivering good or bad news to patients. Could the same principles be applied to distributing public health information? How can a one-on-one conversation be scaled up to the level of society, while maintaining its core principles of integrity and empathy?
When delivering bad news, we are told to consider the mental state of the receiving party. Are they ready to hear this information? How might they react? Is there any support available for them afterwards? Maybe we can start thinking about how this framework can be applied at a larger scale. Could there be a personalized text message that gets sent to everyone explaining the situation? (keeping in mind the paradox of being “personalized” and getting “sent to everyone”). Could people have access to a hotline where they could ask questions about the new changes, or simply vent about how hard life is?
I am writing this in light of the gravity of the situation we are in, remembering the unbelievable strain this is having on our healthcare systems and communities across the world. The emotional aspect of coping with an ever-changing sequence of events and regulations can seriously take a toll on individuals’ mental, physical and socioeconomic health. I wanted to share my observations from this week’s experience with the hopes of contributing to larger discussions around mental health promotion, effective information design, community building, and considering psychological state as an important factor in how we receive, share, and react to stressful news.
Exploring Healthcare Design Series: Introduction and A Recent Experience
In writing about healthcare design, my goal is to generate ideas and present different cases on how human-centred design can improve healthcare.
In writing about healthcare design, my goal is to generate ideas and present different cases on how human-centred design can improve healthcare. I want to explore the different ways healthcare and design intersect with other topics such as equity, research, user experience design, digital health, women’s health and more.
In this first blogpost, I wanted to talk about a recent experience that made the importance of healthcare design apparent to me. When users access a health product or service, feeling supported throughout their journey can strongly impact their comfort levels and willingness to access healthcare altogether.
I was volunteering at a local community clinic, located in the basement of a women’s shelter. One thing that stood out to me over time was the importance of support for patients in the form of being accompanied by other individuals. These individuals ranged from family members, friends, social workers, shelter representatives, etc. At times, I would be the one helping the patients navigate their journey at the clinic.
At the onset of COVID-19, only a limited number of people could enter the clinic, and some patients could not bring in their supporting company. This policy especially took a toll on a subset of patients, including those with disabilities, language barriers, and younger patients. While having people who can wait for you in the waiting room or accompany you inside the clinic could sometimes be viewed as a “nice-to-have”, its absence seemed to negatively affect how comfortable some patients felt accessing the clinic.
In an effort to try to accommodate patients’ company, I spoke to the front desk and we came up with a system where they could give me a call to check if a certain number of patients and supporting individuals could come in depending on clinic capacity. This line of communication not only allowed us to accommodate our patients’ needs, but also became a way for us to streamline future clinic processes.
This to me was an example of how focusing on the human experience could improve patients’ outlooks on accessing health services. Although this relationship was not tested through a scientific study, it was interesting to see the transformation in patients from anxious to calm when they had someone supporting them through their time at the clinic.
This observation can be translated into interventions such as having patient navigators at all clinics, or creating a digital solution that provides similar support. When working with vulnerable populations, we also need to be aware of factors such as digital equity, digital literacy, and trust in the medical system, which can add another layer to how people seek support in a healthcare setting.
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My email: nikoo.aghaei@gmail.com
My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikoo-aghaei/