St. Jude: Redesigning the Pediatric CT Experience

Challenge

Design thinking exercise for IDEO U: “How can we make the CT scan experience for children with cancer less terrifying?”

The challenge was to humanize an essential but traumatic medical process, placing the child at the center of every design decision.

Design

I developed an action research process focused on the pediatric user:

• Ethnographic Shadowing: I accompanied children throughout the day in the hospital, recording every step of their journey.
• Pain point mapping: I identified the exact moments where fear arose.
• Co-design sessions: Involved the children themselves in coming up with ideas that they found comforting.

Methodological Framework

• Design Research: Direct observation and recording of behaviors and reactions.
• Double Diamond (adapted):

  1. Discover: Shadowing and informal interviews.
  2. Define: Map “pain points” and consolidate insights.
  3. Develop: Generate auditory, visual and environmental solutions.
  4. Deliver: Prototype and validate with feedback from patients and families.

Practical Experiential Learning

• Hearing Solution: Over-ear headphones with active noise cancellation to isolate the sound of the scanner.
• Visual distraction: Metal-free screen installed in the scanner tube to project cartoons.
• Environment design: Room painted and decorated according to the children’s suggestions.
• Optimización del journey: Cada touchpoint (recepción, sala de espera, pre-escaneo, post-escaneo) rediseñado desde la perspectiva infantil.

Impact and Results

• Reducción del miedo: Feedback cualitativo de familias y personal médico reportó niños más tranquilos durante el procedimiento.
• Technical validation: All solutions are proven to be compatible with the CT equipment and do not interfere with image quality.
• Iterative adoption: Proposals adjusted after each test, incorporating new technologies and children’s preferences.

What It Proves

• Ability to apply design thinking to environments with multiple technical and emotional constraints.
• Deep focus on user research before proposing solutions.
• Balance between technical needs (image quality, medical protocols) and human needs (child welfare).
• Systems thinking: addressing the entire journey, not just the moment of scanning.

Key Strategic Lesson

The “critical moments” of an experience can be very specific. Ethnographic shadowing reveals insights that interviews or surveys fail to capture and enables the design of highly targeted solutions.

Transferable Learning

“Centering design on the most vulnerable user” is a methodology applicable to any service where there is a high-stress situation or power imbalance, from onboarding processes to customer service.