The golden egg is creating a model & solution that is multifaceted – improving patient engagement & quality of care and provide clinicians with a powerful tool to manage patients & keep workload to minimum. With such a conundrum in hand, a human-centered design approach enables innovators to approach problems with a perspective of bridging the gap between providers and patients. The first iteration in modern times is telemedicine consultation; but as we continue to move from static care (single point in time within care continuum) to dynamic, patients, their families, and providers will play an active role in the care. Continually engaging the patient while being situated to manage health status over time and at any given instance rebuilds how we view care.

The challenge are twofold – make patients want to participate in their health while providing clinicians the means to manage and see the complete picture via efficient methods. The above points pose a challenge due in part to the perception that improving patient care or making clinicians workload streamlined are mutually exclusive.

The key points to understand is what you are trying to solve and build your story accordingly – develop the user (clinician & patient) journey (e.g. What are you solving? When and how will the patient provide feedback? How will clinicians access information and manage patients?). The patient and clinician journey remains complex, both in surgical setting (and post-op) as well as chronic care. In participatory care, we are trying to shift from episodic care with little care before and after the episode to wellness-based approach. The crux of participatory care is to involve all stakeholders and remove the episodes (See figure) and the tools to enable it.