Redesigning breast cancer diagnostics
This project reduced the waiting time for final diagnosis from 12 weeks down to an average of 7 days
This project rethinks the way Oslo University Hospital handles the entire referral and diagnostic process. The result is a 90% reduction in time from a patient's first visit with her primary doctor through her final diagnosis at the hospital. This represents a dramatic improvement in efficiency and in quality of life for patients in a tremendously stressful time, and potentially saved lives. The designers created a patient journey with new back-stage routines, resulting in a team-based daily structure that could process patients through to final diagnosis and treatment plan in 4 days. In the past, referrals and diagnostics was structured around the professionals’ routines. Everything was segmented, with no point of contact through the process. The result was an inefficient and incoherent experience, with little support for a highly sensitive user group. The project was made possible through the Norwegian Centre for Design and Architecture's Design-driven Innovation Programme.