Christiana Care delivers repeated innovations to improve the lives of patients, using empathy and user research fueled by CUA.

A patient at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center is looking calmly at the waves lapping the sand in front of her. She turns her head to the sky and sees the brilliant tropical sun filtering through the palm trees above her. Smiling, she tells the nursing staff funny stories of how she used to take her family to the beach every summer.

Chemotherapy feels better when you’re receiving treatment on a beach paradise.

Thanks to VR technology, the innovation team at Christiana Care Health System (of which the Helen F.Graham Center is a part) has developed what they call ‘positive distraction therapy’ - a way by which cancer patients can have any beautiful view they want when receiving treatment. It makes their day just a little better. The product won the Magnet Award (a prestigious nursing award) that year.

Christiana Care takes its core values of ‘love and excellence’ very seriously, repeatedly implementing user-centric innovation that makes them one of the most beloved and positively regarded healthcare institutions in the region. From training staff to personally help patients and visitors, to creating a better system for documenting Code Blue Events, to creating a way using Google Glass for doctors to maintain eye contact with their patients while transcribing notes - they repeatedly deliver innovation that their patients and caregivers love.

What gives them the ability to do this? According to Jason Mastriana, who heads their innovation team, it’ a relentless focus on putting the user at the center of the design process at every stage, to understand their pain points and mental models well before developing solutions.

“We have many different audiences and many ways to engage with them. Some patients prefer telemedicine, others prefer coming in to physically consult with a doctor. We have caregivers, doctors, and other staff who have varying needs. We always try to understand the user and do what's best for them.”says Mastriana

Mastriana says that making sure that every member of his team is a CUA is an immense help in making sure everyone is on the same page in terms of how UX is approached in Christiana Care. “ We have six CUAs on our team, and five on other teams. It’s a part of our onboarding process - everyone who joins has to take the course. It’s the best way to make sure that everyone is always thinking about the user from the very beginning”

“In the beginning, when we work with other teams, they always ask “Why are we doing this?” But after a week of working on a design sprint that puts users at the forefront, they always want it for their teams as well” he says, saying that interest in the HFI training has spread throughout the organization.

“My dream is to work on innovations that have a positive impact on other people,” says Mastriana. With a little help from HFI, he gets to do just that at Christiana Care, touching millions of lives with love and excellence.