How to Build Patient Journey Maps
Pharmaceutical companies seeking to truly understand patient experiences in a disease area benefit from patient journey maps, which provide valuable insight into a patient's needs, emotions, and pain points at each stage of their healthcare journey.
A patient journey map is a visual representation of the various stages and touchpoints a patient goes through when interacting with a healthcare system or engaging with a specific medical condition or treatment. These maps also reveal factors influencing the patient’s treatment from outside the healthcare system. Creating a patient journey map involves gathering data through patient interviews, surveys, and focus groups and by analyzing existing data sources.
A comprehensive patient journey map should include the following.
Persona: Define the patient persona, including demographics, motivations, goals, and challenges. Understanding the patient's background helps create a more personalized journey map.
Stages of the Journey: Identify the key stages the patient goes through, such as symptom onset, seeking medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, and post-treatment follow-up.
Patient Actions: Outline the specific actions patients take at each stage. For example, researching symptoms online, scheduling appointments, undergoing tests, or adhering to prescribed treatments.
Emotions and Needs: Capture the patient's emotions, feelings, and needs at each stage. Patients may experience anxiety, uncertainty, or relief at different points in their journey.
Touchpoints and Channels: Map out the various touchpoints and communication channels patients interact with, such as healthcare providers, websites, mobile apps, social media, support groups, and customer service.
Interactions with Healthcare Providers: Understand how patients interact with healthcare professionals, including the quality of care, communication, and patient-provider relationships.
Information and Education: Assess the availability and accessibility of medical information and educational resources provided to patients at different stages.
Decision-making Points: Identify critical decision-making points for the patient, such as treatment options, consent for procedures, or choosing a healthcare provider.
Barriers and Pain Points: Highlight the challenges patients face during their journey, including barriers to access, treatment side effects, administrative hurdles, and communication gaps.
Moments of Truth: Identify the pivotal moments that significantly impact the patient's perception of their experience. These moments can be positive or negative turning points.
Influence of Support Networks: Recognize the influence of family, friends, or support groups on the patient's decisions and emotional well-being.
Patient Satisfaction and Outcomes: Measure patient satisfaction and outcomes at various stages to assess the effectiveness of the patient journey.
The map serves as a valuable tool for healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, and other stakeholders to design patient-centric strategies, improve patient engagement, and enhance overall healthcare experiences. Based on the insights gained from the journey map, companies can identify opportunities for enhancing the patient experience, reducing friction points, and optimizing care delivery.
Thought Leader Select creates patient journey maps to help pharmaceutical companies understand the healthcare journey that patients face. To learn more about how we can use these maps to bring you new and valuable insights, contact us.
