Team Reflection: Exploring Reception Experiences at Health & Wellness

Over the past year, the Innovation Hub partnered with Health & Wellness (H&W) to gain a deeper understanding of reception experiences. In this blog, the design research team reflects on the work and their own healthcare experiences, while thinking about the important role of reception services. 

Written by the Design Research Team for the Reception Experiences at Health & Wellness project 

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This year, the iHub continued its partnership with H&W to explore students’ reception experiences. Beginning in May 2024, the project allowed us to consider how students navigate various touchpoints and interactions as they engage with H&W reception. We used design thinking methodologies to listen to the stories of students and staff, allowing us to explore reception experiences from multiple perspectives. Our team is passionate about empowering student voices through qualitative research, and excited about the positive change the project can bring for current and future patients. 

This year, our research focused on interactions within the various communication channels at H&W, including the front desk, kiosks, telephone, email, and website. As a team, we facilitated interviews to collect feedback from students and stakeholders, transcribed data, and analyzed student stories to learn more about how students can be further supported when interacting with H&W. Offering a safe space to connect with and acknowledge the experiences of students not only refined our ability to interpret and present insights, but also polished our understanding of the deep considerations that go into healthcare navigation. We were grateful to learn about the many systems and stakeholders involved in creating a smooth healthcare environment, which expanded our perspectives of what goes on “behind the scenes”.  

Surprising Insights 

Through our feedback sessions, we actively listened to participants as they reflected on the challenges they experienced in the healthcare system and the process of overcoming them. There were many insights from the participants that surprised us, such as students’ reflections on privacy and what it means to them. Below, Thaksha described how she could relate to students’ concerns about privacy and helped her to re-evaluate her own relationship to it:   

Thaksha: An interesting insight we found was how much emphasis there was on privacy, especially for virtual appointments. During the session, as the participants shared their stories about private spaces, we felt more connected to what their stories were about, even reflecting on my personal experiences of trying to find a space on campus to attend my virtual appointments.   

Another surprising insight was realizing just how easy it is to overlook student voices. Emma shared how student voices can be easily dismissed when we get complacent about the ‘status quo’ by assuming that it works for everyone:  

Emma: Most students expressed that wayfinding is extremely easy and shouldn’t really be a concern. However, we noticed that some students did express concerns with wayfinding – namely, for students living with disabilities. But because it was a small group speaking up about their struggles to access campus spaces and resources, we noticed that their voices could be easily drowned out. While collecting the data to explore a research question, this observation also reaffirmed our commitment to ensuring our feedback sessions were accessible and inclusive to all. 

Ensuring that we hear, understand, and consider all voices is key to designing equitable services and spaces. Knowing both of these surprising insights, we can use them as the basis to make changes and improve healthcare services.  

Embracing Empathy 

Throughout the project, we expected to hear a lot of stories from students about the challenges of navigating healthcare, but what really surprised us was the empathy expressed from students towards H&W staff. Our team felt inspired by students’ reflections, noticing the day-to-day challenges receptionists experienced. Rachel spoke about this sense of empathy that she saw in students: 

Rachel: Something that resonated with me was how understanding many of our student participants were towards the work the healthcare staff does. When we spoke to students, they were very empathetic about any challenges that reception staff may have experienced and what may have caused these difficulties. They were also very willing to work with reception staff to improve future experiences at H&W. 

We learned that this sense of empathy can be uplifting to both students and staff. Realizing that empathy was reciprocated between both staff and students was also a key “aha” moment that we encountered. Below, Snigdha and Jenny reflected on how empathy, particularly in healthcare, is a two-way street – there is a deep sense of mutual respect shared by both students and staff. 

Snigdha: Something that surprised me was how self-aware students were about the demands of their healthcare requests. Students could understand that staff had many other students to attend to, and what could be a realistic and unrealistic request to make to staff. To me, students’ ability to reflect on their own role and impacts made me think about how healthcare is a two-way street – it wasn’t just staff who cared about students, but students who cared about staff, too! 

Jenny: This inherent sense of empathy between students and staff that highlighted the challenging healthcare reception experiences students shared was remarkable. It even reminded me of the empathy and understanding that I noticed in our team who were always ready to support and help each other. The importance of human connection within the healthcare system and beyond really resonated with me and is something I would carry forward. 

The feedback sessions we hosted really deepened our appreciation for acknowledging empathy and people’s ability to recognize each other’s efforts even when discussing difficult topics. Despite any frustrations shared, many of the students remained positive and optimistic knowing that it is possible to continue building on and strengthening these bonds between students and staff at H&W.  

Finding Where to Start 

Recognizing the complex nature of healthcare can lead us to think critically about where to start when strategizing how to improve healthcare services. There are many unique factors that play into how people think about or engage with healthcare services. One factor we noticed was the impact of when students made the decision to seek care. Snigdha reflected on how many students avoided thinking about healthcare and healthcare issues until they really needed it: 

Snigdha: I sensed that many participants were hesitant to access healthcare due to the uncertainty this experience can bring. Until a student is put into a system where they must access healthcare, they avoid thinking about it. So, in this distressing situation, navigating a complex reception service is scary and students require more support. 

We realized that another factor to consider is how we view and define the healthcare journey. Thaksha shared how it is important to consider thinking about healthcare holistically – as an entire experience that is more than just the appointment itself. 

Thaksha: In the end, healthcare does not start at the appointment. It starts as early as one simply thinking about wanting to make an appointment or being in a situation that requires it. It is crucial to understand this before developing measures to adequately support students. 

At the beginning of the project, we assumed that scheduling an appointment and engaging with reception staff would be the main points of concern accessing healthcare services. However, it is not just about engaging with the various tangible communication channels to build supportive systems – it is also about how students understand how to access these services and spaces. Having all voices heard and acknowledged goes a long way in building trust. 

The Journey Ahead

Through this project, we realized that building positive reception experiences can begin way before the appointment itself. It is not just about providing students with comfort at the moment of direct engagement with reception services, online, or in-person, but about making students feel confident and comfortable in their entire journey along the way. Their reception experiences set the tone for the journey ahead. We learned the value of feeling safe and reassured by staff members, inspiring us to think about how we can be pillars of support to those around us. As a team, we’re so proud of our work this year, and we can’t wait to see change being made in students’ healthcare experiences on campus. 

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