The chief innovation officer (CIO) role is like no other C-suite position at a hospital, and no two hospitals take exactly the same approach.
Some hospitals task their CIOs with running investment funds or developing technology for commercialization or solving internal problems.
“The role of innovation in healthcare is quite diverse,” Dan Schoenthal, head of the innovation team at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center at Houston, told Healthcare Brew. “If you talk to a chief innovation officer, you’ll find a similar perspective, but even among ourselves, we joke about how we all have slightly different responsibilities.”
At the nation’s largest cancer center, the CIO’s role is built around experiential design — and that doesn’t necessarily mean introducing new technology (though that’s certainly part of it).
“People think of innovation where we have to get all of the augmented reality experiences [and] Sometimes it’s just about how we develop the human connection, what that person wants, especially someone with cancer,” he said. “You know, for most people it’s one of the worst parts of their lives. And that’s why human contact is important.”
experiential design management
The specific projects that Shonthal oversees may not seem out of the ordinary on the surface, he said.
For example, during the design process of a new hospital building, project managers wanted every element of the building to be different, from the floor layout to the overall aesthetics. They also wanted the human interaction to be different – a task that the innovation team is up to.
“We talked a lot about technology,” Schonthal said. “What does that front door look like? Do we have kiosks? How can we create an experience like airlines or high-end hotels?”
In the end, the biggest experiential design change his team implemented didn’t involve technology at all.
“The biggest change we made was really just that very basic interaction between the employees sitting at the front desk and how they personally welcome the person who walks in. [They] act almost like a human navigator or way finding device […] Do a personal handoff,” Schonthal said.
In their new role as greeters, the front desk staff asked “How may I help you today?” He was approached with shirts and visitors at the entrance.
“It seems small, doesn’t it? there are a lot of grocery stores that do this […] But when we had the first round of patient satisfaction surveys come back, a lot of patients answered, like, ‘Wow, I think I walked into the wrong building!’
impact assessment
One of the biggest challenges Schönthal’s team faces is estimating use cases. And MD Anderson develops the utility of technology as both a technology provider and a patient.
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“As we cycle between populations and how we need to engage them, we have to think about how that engagement model needs to evolve — how they consume information,” Schoenthal said. It is important to “keep pace with the upcoming technology developments and make appropriate use of that technology”, he said.
Meeting the needs of cancer patients doesn’t always require technological improvements, as evidenced by hospital lobby greeters. Sorting through the hype about a certain technology and determining which devices are best suited to improve the patient experience is another important part of Schoenthal’s role.
“In innovation, there has always been a little bit of the shiny object syndrome,” he said, citing examples of artificial intelligence as well as how and where to use big language models to serve patients.
“I think there’s an important balance we all need to strike – and not forget the little things, like human interaction being just as valuable as the technical one at times.”
hiring for innovation
An important part of any executive role is hiring the right talent. So, how exactly do you build a team to successfully innovate the patient experience in a cancer hospital?
Schoenthal, who reports to the hospital’s chief technology and digital officer, said he’s not looking for specific skill sets or career paths when he’s hiring, but rather people who are naturally at work. are inquisitive, comfortable questioning the status quo, and aware of how challenging it can be. Change can happen, especially in healthcare.
“We have to be very thoughtful about how we look at change, and how we look at the evolution of the way we deliver care and the way we interact with patients,” he said. “There is resistance in this work […] Are you comfortable applying the gentle pressure that is needed to work through change?”
Schönthal said most of their reports involve some form of experiential design experience, but typically they break down into “human-centered designers” who are tasked with envisioning the patient experience of the future, and then giving them is tasked with translating that into reality. His background includes everything from technical expertise to psychology in service design, he said.
“Change is difficult. It is an interesting mix of curiosity and stubbornness required by the role,” he said. “And what I’ve learned over the years is that where we hear ‘no,’ it’s always good to keep that ‘no’ in your back pocket, because eventually that ‘no’ will become a yes.”
Source: www.healthcare-brew.com
