The ‘human touch’ is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as: 'a friendly and pleasant way of treating other  people that makes them feel relaxed’.

This is not an easy thing to pinpoint though. Technology is continuously reshaping the way we interact. And despite the convenience and speed of digital solutions, human interaction holds an intrinsic value that technology cannot replicate. 

Yet day to day, patients worry about self-service options leading to a reduction in human interaction. Maybe pharmacists who used to know them, now just deal with their prescription or doctors only have minutes to spare for a conversation. 

With all the excitement and genuine potential that digital can offer healthcare, there remains a risk that patients end up being treated as data, hoovered up by systems that can only pretend to know and care about them.

User-generated and AI-created content is on the rise. Therapy bots that lack regulation can disseminate misleading information. Many patients facing challenges and in dire need are exposed to new digital solutions that do not prioritise safety.

For less proactive and digitally inclined patients, the risk of losing the human touch is that they become less engaged. If we want patients to become educated and empowered, we can’t just send them links to information and tools. It’s no substitute for a chance to talk.

It’s true that many of us prefer to seek out digital self-service tools than to wait a long time to speak to an overworked (and likely stressed) human expert. However such tools are unlikely to cut the mustard when engaging with significant treatment / surgery options. 

Patients want to be actively involved in the conversation about what to do (where possible) and not just be ‘done-to’. To enable their participation they’re given the right information, opportunity and assistance.

When things are concerning or when we’re feeling vulnerable or experiencing symptoms, our ability to take on new information is greatly reduced. We need ‘the human touch’ to help us feel comfortable, relaxed and cared for. It creates the space to ask a question or two.

What does ‘the human touch’ provide in education?

Ask a teacher whether people can learn entirely via digital resources - and they’ll say something like: “It wont work at all for some people, and the rest will still miss out on so much”. 

But direct interaction with a teacher can lead to:

• personalised feedback / answers to our questions
• a deeper exploration / connection with what really matters to us
• facilitated discussion with a group of peers
• the opportunity to connect and collaborate with others
• the space to understand diverse values, perspectives, emotions and motivations 

The risk of digital-first approaches to patient education and empowerment

Imagine we were looking to find some novel approaches to supporting patients with getting involved and engaged with their care. We might consider adding

1. A new email newsletter to surface relevant choices that a patient can make
2. An AI chatbot to give more digitally able patients ‘an expert’ to talk to about their worries in the middle of the night
3. A digital notice board to advertise locally available support
4. Some video explainers to help patients learn how to use a new device or how to do a specific set of exercises

When focusing on health and care professionals we might consider adding a counterpart to each of these:

1. Email editing tools and templates.
2. Tools for training, testing and monitoring an AI chat bot 
3. Automated updates from local charities and voluntary groups 
4. Libraries of approved videos and tools for creating playlists 

All this sounds useful and worthwhile, exciting even. But do we really want to design health systems primarily powered by screens?

The patient looks at their screen - and the professional looks at theirs. The patient hands in their story (via a pre-appointment survey) and the professional uses this to start to assess the patient before they’ve even made eye contact. 

Maybe it’s better to focus on human to human moments with digital playing a supporting role?

Starting with the human touch

With a focus on human-to-human service moments we might start with a different set of ideas.

1. Set up co-design groups - e.g. to create and maintain the right set of signposting options for a healthcare pathway or to define the values and limits of a safe and empowering AI 
2. Run community events and classes (to provide not just one-to-one support in consultations, but one-to-many and many-to-many support)
3. Co-create video content, combining patient stories with medical advice.
4. Collaborate across social services, local charities, voluntary groups and healthcare providers

Such activities are more likely to yield results than just focusing on digital alone or too soon. If we want to engage patients, educate them and enable them to take responsibility for their health, we first have to show that we care about them. We have to capture and represent their values. 

By working together we can discover and support their needs.

Designing together

Designing digital tools separately creates the risk of digitising the wrong moments and fragmented experiences. It can result in making patients / professionals start from scratch when beginning a new interaction. Worse still, it sets the scene for treating patients / professionals as individuals (with their devices), when the most impactful work can be when they work together.

On the other hand, designing digital and human touchpoints together makes it easier to make deliberate choices about where to deploy technology, and where not to. It opens the way towards designing hand-offs between digital and non-digital. Perhaps most importantly, it helps us to identify and give special treatment to those moments where people need to work together.

How we can help

We run service co-design and digital innovation projects across health and care and the public sector. Get in touch to see if we'd be a good fit for your situation. Contact sam@macementer.com, 0117 251 0177.