15 September 2026 Elena Toniolo
Journal of Experiences
From the individual service to the entire care journey, starting with the experience of those living it
When discussing healthcare innovation, the conversation often centers on technology: electronic health records, telemedicine, artificial intelligence, and advanced diagnostics.
These elements are set to transform the way care is delivered. Yet, a person’s experience within the healthcare system often hinges on much simpler factors: knowing where to go and whom to turn to, receiving clear information, feeling heard, avoiding the need to retell one’s story repeatedly, and being guided through a journey that—in most cases—coincides with a time of vulnerability.
This is where Service Design plays a crucial role: not by digitizing healthcare, but by making it more human.
Healthcare is not a single service
When we think of a healthcare experience, we tend to picture a specific moment: a consultation, a test, or a hospital stay. In reality, what people experience is a far more complex journey.
This experience often begins before even entering the hospital—with an online search, a phone call, or an appointment booking—and continues through reception, waiting, interactions with professionals, medical tests, returning home, therapy, and follow-up care.
These steps involve a variety of people, tools, processes, and organizations, yet for the individual, they form a single, unified journey. It is from this perspective that Service Design focuses on the relationships and continuity between the various stages of the experience.
Experience also influences the quality of care
Clinical quality and the quality of the experience influence one another; they are not separate aspects.
A person who does not understand the instructions they receive might follow a treatment regimen incorrectly; an overly complex booking process can delay a diagnosis; unclear communication can increase anxiety and uncertainty. Conversely, a service that is clear and consistent fosters collaboration between professionals and patients.
In this context, experience design is not merely about the usability of an application, but about enabling people to navigate, understand, and actively participate in their own care journey.
Complexity should not fall on the individual
Healthcare is one of the most complex organizational systems in existence: regulations, professionals with diverse skill sets, information systems, organizational constraints, and clinical pathways constantly coexist and intertwine.
While this complexity is inherent to the system, it should not fall on the individuals involved. This happens, for instance, when patients are required to carry documents from one department to another, repeat information already provided, or piece together the various stages of their care journey on their own—forcing them to adapt to the organization rather than being guided by it.
Service Design aims to address this very complexity, making the experience simpler and more understandable for people from the beginning of the journey to the end.
To design, we must observe
In healthcare, it is impossible to devise solutions without understanding the actual problems. That is why observing people is crucial.
- How does an elderly person experience the wait?
- What difficulties do those accompanying a small child encounter?
- How do people find their way when entering a hospital for the first time?
- What does a patient feel when receiving a report that is difficult to interpret?
These questions are rarely answered by administrative data; they require field research, observation, interviews, and direct engagement with people.
A Customer Journey Map, for instance, allows us to observe the experience as a whole and understand how it is perceived at different stages of the process.
We applied this approach in research involving young patients facing an MRI scan: observation enabled us to understand not only what happens during the procedure but also how the wait is experienced, how information is received, and how the preparation for the upcoming event unfolds.
Technology alone is not enough
In recent years, many healthcare organizations have invested in digitalization through portals, apps, online booking systems, and electronic health records. These are significant developments, but digitizing a process does not necessarily mean improving the experience.
A form that is difficult to fill out remains difficult even when converted into a webpage, just as a confusing process remains confusing even when managed via an application.
Technology creates value when it stems from an understanding of people’s needs, not when it merely replaces existing tools.
Artificial intelligence opens up new opportunities
The healthcare sector is also rapidly adopting artificial intelligence through diagnostic support, the summarization of clinical documentation, conversational assistants, and the automation of administrative tasks.
While these innovations can improve system efficiency, they also introduce new design responsibilities:
- How do you build trust in a system that suggests a diagnosis?
- How do you communicate the reliability level of a response?
- How do you maintain the central role of the relationship between the healthcare professional and the patient?
These are design questions first and foremost—even before they are technological ones—and this is where UX and Service Design become indispensable.
Healthcare designed in partnership with people
For many years, healthcare was designed primarily from the perspective of the organizations themselves. Today, it is increasingly important to involve those who experience these services every day: patients, family members, caregivers, and healthcare professionals.
Listening to and connecting diverse perspectives makes it possible to understand needs, challenges, and expectations that might otherwise be overlooked during the design process.
An Experience Lab for healthcare?
Just as clinical research has laboratories dedicated to the study of diseases, we can envision spaces dedicated to the study of experiences.
An Experience Lab could serve as a setting to observe how patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals navigate care pathways. Methods such as ethnographic research, field observation, service design, eye-tracking, biometrics, and behavioral analysis would allow for a deeper understanding not only of what happens during these journeys but also of how they are experienced.
The goal would not simply be to measure satisfaction, but to gain a profound understanding of the lived experience: where difficulties and uncertainties arise, what fosters trust, and at which moments people would benefit from better support.
Beyond care
Perhaps the most important contribution Service Design can offer healthcare is a shift in perspective: designing experiences rather than services; optimizing patient journeys rather than individual services; and moving beyond merely treating an illness to providing support throughout the process.
Because when someone comes into contact with the healthcare system, they do not experience a set of procedures: they experience an important part of their life.
Ultimately, the healthcare system’s ability to care for people depends on the quality of this experience—going beyond technology, processes, and clinical innovation.