Hospital Hero
Diminishing fear during hospital visits for children
Co-creating the Hospital Hero Experience
Digital clickable prototype supported by paper prototypes.
Testing the first prototypes at the policlinic
Project Overview
During 2018 two pediatric nurses from the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) identified the need to reduce the stress-levels young patients experience while visiting the policlinic. When the children experience less fear and uncertainty, the care process can be much more effective. They envisioned an app which would guide the family before and during their visit and would use gameplay to help lower stress for both children and parents. A diverse team was gathered and several parties collaborated to further conceptualize Hospital Hero: National eHealth Living Lab (NeLL) , Willem Alexander Children’s Hospital, content partner Naturalis and app-developer Zooma as well as former patients and diverse staff members. Before investing in the development of the app it was important to develop an early prototype in order to test the assumptions about the Hospital Hero experience at the policlinic. Late 2019 the team was awarded DesignScapes funding to do this. With the insights from the prototype test the actual app was developed and realized. The Hospital Hero app is live and in use at the LUMC and turns every child into a Hospital Hero!
Action & Impact
Annet Bruil, member of the Heartbeat Ventures team, was asked in 2019 to help clarify the app concept, develop the first prototype and test it. She also contributed to the application for DesignScapes funding. The Hospital Hero app had been in the minds of the stakeholders for quite some time and each had their own representation of the idea. We facilitated the co-creation of a shared concept of the app, defining what it could be, balancing desirability, feasibility and viability. We co-created an experience journey map, which helped create insight into the lived experience of patients, parents and staff at the policlinic. This enabled the Hospital Hero team to identify the potential added value of the app in each stage of the experience journey, and where it would need to be supported by other interventions for an ideal experience.
Our team then developed a clickable prototype supported by paper prototypes to test the assumptions about the experience at the policlinic. Using the ‘Wizard of Oz’ method we simulated the responses of the app, testing the full experience from learning about the existence of the app, downloading, preparing for your visit to the actual visit at the hospital itself. Over the course of one day we observed and interviewed several families. The feedback we gathered provided enough insight in where to focus the development of the actual Hospital Hero app.
Contact Person: Annet Bruil
Impact in numbers:
#organizations partnered with: 4
#professionals impacted: 13