"How might we encourage general practitioners to use the social circumstances of their patients to develop more inclusive and accessible care in clinics?"
The general practice workforce is overburdened and time-pressured. Systemic issues in care include biases, poor development of patient-practitioner relationships, and lack of holistic care. Moreover, there is a growing reliance on technological solutions in healthcare to address these factors. This study is aimed at providing a digital intervention that improves practitioner-patient communication and encourages more holistic care in consults. The goal is to give general practitioners specific tools to use before the consult to provide more considered patient care while also being time-efficient.
The tool is a web and app platform called Whā that can be used at home or at clinics. It is a virtual triaging software - when the patient books an appointment through a patient portal, they can use Whā, which asks patients adaptive questions, allowing them to provide their symptoms, preferences and current social situation. The software passes this information on to the general practitioner to use within the consult to provide more tailored care and management.
User Interface Design
Accessibility was at the forefront of this design. The goal was to create an easy-to-use platform for both patients and GPs. Everything is single page and meets web accessibility guidelines.
Whā Styleguide
The branding goals:
- Medical
- Clean
- Safe
- Trustworthy
