Patient Profiles for Medical Consumers
Tailored Healthcare Lab Delft
Introduction
On this website, we present an overview of three profiles of medical consumers. Each profile has distinctive preferences, needs, and competences. We also provide profile-specific guidelines for the design of tailored information tools and delivery of tailored healthcare. These insights summarize the findings of four years of research by two PhD candidates at Delft University of Technology. We invite you to explore the profiles and think about ways to closer align healthcare to the preferences, needs, and competences of different patients.
For more information, contact us: m.melles@tudelft.nl
Patient profiles represent the common characteristics of a specific subgroup of patients that are unique compared to the overall patient population. Patient profiles are data-driven, which means that they are based on the analysis of data rather than intuition or personal experience. They provide creative and health professionals insight in the broad differences and similarities between people, so that healthcare services may be closer aligned to the preferences, needs, and competences of different individual patients.
It can be difficult to provide tailored healthcare in a standardized system. Patient profiles provide you with data-driven insight in the preferences, needs, and competences of different patient groups. This allows you to understand the distinct ways in which patients experience their health, cope with major surgery and wish to communicate with their healthcare provider. You can use this information to become aware of these differences and as a starting point to provide more tailored care.
As a discipline working at the interface between people and technology, design has long played an important role in the implementation of new technologies, medical devices, and experiences in the healthcare domain. Yet unlike other end users, patients are in a vulnerable position which may make it difficult to conduct user research. Patient profiles provide you with first insight in this hard-to-reach target group. This allows you to understand the distinct ways in which patients experience their health, cope with major surgery and wish to communicate with their healthcare provider. You can use this information to become aware of these differences and as a starting point to design more tailored care.
