Human centered design workshops as a meta-solution to diagnostic disparities

Abstract

Objectives Diagnostic errors – inaccurate or untimely diagnoses or failures to communicate diagnoses – are harmful and costly for patients and health systems. Diagnostic disparities occur when diagnostic errors are experienced at disproportionate rates by certain patient subgroups based, for example, on patients’ age, sex/gender, or race/ethnicity. We aimed to develop and test the feasibility of a human centered design workshop series that engages diverse stakeholders to develop solutions for mitigating diagnostic disparities. Methods We employed a series of human centered design workshops supplemented by semi-structured interviews and literature evidence scans. Co-creation sessions and rapid prototyping by patient, clinician, and researcher stakeholders were used to generate design challenges, solution concepts, and prototypes. Results A series of four workshops attended by 25 unique participants was convened in 2019–2021. Workshops generated eight design challenges, envisioned 29 solutions, and formulated principles for developing solutions in an equitable, patient-centered manner. Workshops further resulted in the conceptualization of 37 solutions for addressing diagnostic disparities and prototypes for two of the solutions. Participants agreed that the workshop processes were replicable and could be implemented in other settings to allow stakeholders to generate context-specific solutions. Conclusions The incorporation of human centered design through a series of workshops promises to be a productive way of engaging patient-researcher stakeholders to mitigate and prevent further exacerbation of diagnostic disparities. Healthcare stakeholders can apply human centered design principles to guide thinking about improving diagnostic performance and to center diverse patients’ needs and experiences when implementing quality and safety improvements.

“It’s probably an STI because you’re gay”: a qualitative study of diagnostic error experiences in sexual and gender minority individuals

“…To combat harm, diagnostic excellence aims to optimise diagnosis while advancing patient-centred healthcare and alleviating diagnostic inequities for historically marginalised populations 4 5. Socially disadvantaged groups are often medically underserved, and, thus, at greater risk of diagnostic disparities, which are preventable differences in diagnostic excellence that result in disproportionate harms contingent on identity 5–10…”

Co-Designing an Initiative to Increase Shared Access to Older Adults’ Patient Portals: Stakeholder Engagement

“…The participatory design approaches also promote ownership of identified outcomes, thereby increasing the likelihood that interventions will be accepted, implemented, and sustained [26][27][28]. Co-designing and HCD are increasingly being used in health care improvement and have been used to develop clinical trials as well as health programs, products, diagnostic disparities solutions, websites, and technologies [29][30][31][32].…”