Summary
Praxa Sense developed an innovative heart monitoring device, Afi, designed to improve patient comfort and detect arrhythmias using AI. However, they faced a major challenge: they didn’t yet know where Afi fit into the healthcare system.
Who would use it?
How would it integrate into existing workflows?
At what point in the patient journey would it provide the most value?
Through stakeholder interviews and journey mapping, I helped Praxa Sense define Afi’s role and create a clear roadmap for its future development.
Service Design is like storytelling
Service design is a lot like writing a great story. You start by defining the main characters and understanding what drives them. Once you know their goals, you can design the tools that help them along their journey.
For this project, our story had two key elements:
The main characters:
The patient with heart problems, whose goal is to get better.
The doctor, who wants to diagnose and treat the patient effectively.
The tools provided by Praxa Sense:
Afi – A small, wearable heart monitor.
A powerful AI – Capable of detecting arrhythmias.
But before the story could be written, I needed to understand how these characters interacted in real life.
Challenge - A product without a story
Imagine you’re the CEO of a company that has built an AI-powered heart monitor. The technology is cutting-edge. The potential is huge. You’re confident it will revolutionize healthcare.
But there’s one big problem: you don’t yet know how it fits into the bigger picture.
Who will use it?
How will it change their workflow?
What makes it essential, rather than just another wearable?
Without answers to these questions, further development was directionless. That’s where I stepped in.
Discovering the characters and their journeys
At the start of this project, my knowledge of cardiology was limited. So, I immersed myself in research, conducting interviews with:
Cardiologists
Specialists
Nurses
Medical assistants
I didn’t just speak to a few experts - I expanded my reach, ensuring I had insights from multiple hospitals and roles.
Key Insights from research
Through these conversations, I discovered that the patient journey was far more complex than Praxa Sense initially thought. For example:
Doctors struggled with short monitoring periods and unreliable symptom reporting. Patients often experienced irregular heart episodes, but traditional tests could miss them.
Nurses played a crucial role in handling monitoring devices, yet their needs were often overlooked.
The diagnostic process was fragmented, with different specialists handling different parts of the journey.
These insights highlighted exactly where Afi could make the biggest impact - not just as a monitoring device, but as a solution that could bridge critical gaps in heart care.
Mapping the patient journey - Afi’s place in the story
To bring clarity to these findings, I created a Journey Map - a visual representation of the patient’s experience, from the first symptoms to diagnosis and treatment.
This map revealed:
The key moments when doctors needed reliable heart data
Where current methods fell short
How Afi could seamlessly integrate into hospital workflows
By placing Afi within the real-world context of heart treatment, we transformed it from a promising idea into a strategic healthcare tool.
Shaping the future - A new narrative for Afi
With this clear patient journey in mind, I led a strategy session with Praxa Sense. Together, we brainstormed:
How Afi could reduce diagnostic uncertainty for cardiologists
Ways to make the device easier for nurses to use
How to position Afi as an essential part of treatment, rather than an optional add-on
These discussions redefined Afi’s purpose and led to a new, refined vision:
"Afi wouldn’t just detect arrhythmias - it would create a smoother, more reliable path to heart care."
This story, in turn, was captured in a future-state Journey Map, outlining how Afi would fit into everyday medical practice.
The final Journey Map became a strategic tool for Praxa Sense, helping them:
Define Afi’s exact role in heart treatment – Clarifying how it would be used by doctors, nurses, and patients.
Prioritize future development – Ensuring features aligned with real healthcare needs.
Improve communication with hospitals and investors – By presenting a clear story of Afi’s impact, making it easier to gain support and adoption.
By turning a complex medical challenge into a structured narrative, I helped Praxa Sense move forward with confidence - equipped with a clear vision for Afi’s future.
Great products don’t just need great technology. They need a clear purpose - a story that connects them to the people who will use them.
Through research, journey mapping, and strategic storytelling, I helped Praxa Sense define Afi’s place in the healthcare system, ensuring that its development was driven by real-world needs.
Now, they had more than just a device. They had a roadmap for its future - and a compelling story to tell.
© Joep van de Klundert 2024
+31 6 1777 20 70
joepvandeklundert@gmail.com