UX/UI research and design
Social Impact Design
Remote Rounding Connector
ELEVEN and Springboard Studio collaborated with a group of Mass General Brigham Hospital (MGB) staff to build a system that enables family members of inpatients to virtually participate in hospital rounds.
Following a successful pilot launch with MGB’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in 2021, the Remote Rounding Connector has been fully incorporated into MGB’s suite of TeleHealth offerings.
The problem:
Inpatient families struggle to stay informed about their loved one's care when they miss hospital rounds.
After a series of fruitful co-creation workshops with a strategic mix of hospital staff and other stakeholders, hospital workers identified a wide range of solutions to improve the inpatient experience at MGB.
There was strong momentum behind the concept of offering remote access to families during hospital rounds. This simple addition to the current telehealth program has the potential to streamline family/physician communication and improve overall health equity.
ELEVEN led the group of hospital works and stakeholders through multiple rounds of guided ideation.
The concept of remote rounding access began to take shape as a video conference app with live schedule monitoring.
UI mockups were created as testing stimulus to understand barriers to adoption.
Research identified key design considerations such as:
Preserve the live and spontaneous nature of rounds within the hospital, while managing the family’s expectations about when they should join.
Ensure the prevention of patient/family mix-ups.
Leverage existing systems and tech within the hospital.
With learnings in hand, we refined the UI design intent to be shared with MGB.
We worked with MGB’s programming teams to integrate the Remote Rounding Connector concept into the current TeleHealth system, maintaining key design elements that ensure seamless adoption by physicians and provide clarity to participating families.
The Remote Rounding Connector was piloted at the MGB Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in 2021 with resounding success.
Today, the concept is fully active within MGB’s Inpatient CareTeam Connect suite.
With this system now in place, expanded applications quickly came to light such as remote interpreters and specialty consultations.
We’ve had specific patients who are critically ill or unable to communicate with their family, but through PatientConnect, we are able to put the tablet at the bedside, so the family gets to see their loved one. If they’re able to interact, they can communicate with their family members. It’s great because not everyone is from here. Some people are coming from other states or out of town and they’re able to easily see the patient, speak with their loved one and it’s great interaction. The patients really appreciate it and families really love it.
Meghan Roche, RN
Patient Care Units