SingHealth MyCare MVP 1.0
Pushing the Boundaries of the Healthcare Industry
Mobility in healthcare has lots of untapped potential. With a close partnership with SingHealth, IHiS (Integrated Health Information Systems) and Apple Enterprise Design Lab, we wanted to explore on how we might improve not just the patient experience, but help optimise nurse’s productivity as well.
Opportunities.
Working closely with SingHealth, IHiS and Apple, we identified and prioritised value added features for an MVP. With a focus on empowering patients to be partners in their care journey, the teams came together and designed the MyCare App, to give patients access to their daily care schedule and own medical information via iPads installed on their hospital bedside. MyCare also features a messaging function for patients to ask questions about their care plan or put in specific requests for water, extra pillows or housekeeping services. Patients can also access orientation and education materials such as videos and health articles.
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Empowering patients with their own healthcare information including diagnosis, test results and medication meant that they can better understand their treatment and ask more informed questions during doctors’ rounds. Patients also no longer have to press the call bell to ask nurses questions, such as, What time is my next medication; What medication am I on; When will my lab test results be out, etc. Nurses in our pilot wards are now able to spend more time on direct patient care.
Challenges
Of course, navigating a complex project like this presented its own set of challenges — The features in the MVP needed to work seamlessly with the existing healthcare technical infrastructure, as well as filter out unneeded information. Knowing this beforehand, we established a close working relationship with the IHiS team right at the get go, allowing us to immediately highlight and work around obstacles in data management and access in the features that were discussed. This was possible only because we used the Agile Methodology Iterative approach based on what could be done — which was to find the best solutions that could build the system out of their existing workflows .
Moving Forward
Throughout the process, we’ve been getting great feedback from patients and nurses alike, exposing a number of new opportunities. Armed with these additional insights, we’re continuing to push the MVP forward, fine-tuning the features of MyCare to meet the needs of patients.
