Problem
Only 21% of patients completed the prescribed two-year treatment, weakening outcomes and physician confidence.
Innovation / Patient adherence
Patient Adherence Redesign
As Project Lead and Service Designer, I led a multidisciplinary team to address a critical business problem: only 21% of patients completed the prescribed two-year treatment. We designed and field-tested communication, support, and product interventions that helped adherence reach 25% after one year.
- Role
- Project Lead & Service Designer, leading a team of two designers and a design researcher
- Client
- Global pharmaceutical manufacturer
- Duration
- Two-week field trial, 15 week project duration
- Deliverables
- Adherence strategy/journey, HCP communication tools, patient support service design, and fridge/travel kit
© 2007 IDEO, D. Klein and G. Wustrak
The brief
Challenge.
Goal
I led the team in designing practical interventions that could help patients stay on treatment.
Constraint
Patients had to self-inject every day for two years and keep the medication refrigerated, including while traveling.
Success metric
We aimed for a meaningful 2–3 percentage-point increase. Adherence reached 25% after the first year.
Process
01
Discovery
We visited a group of 8 patients twice in 10 days. During that time they lived with early prototypes. We did expert interviews with 2 nurse educators, 2 HCPs, and 1 pharmacist to understand treatment challenges from their perspectives.
02
Strategy
We reframed the adherence challenge into a connected cycle of belief, knowledge, and action rather than simplistic HCP communication or patient reminder problems.
03
Design
Our team developed interventions aimed at HCPs, caregivers, and patients including: communication tools, call-center scripts, opt-ins, benefit investigation, and physical fridge travel kit design.
Discovery
A demanding treatment journey
The treatment context combined severe osteoporosis, daily self-injection for two years, and continuous refrigeration.
The adherence challenge
A 21% completion rate defined the adherence challenge and established a 2–3% improvement target.
Strategy
Belief: make progress visible
Visuals, call support, and training materials helped clinicians explain what treatment could achieve.
Design
Rapid prototypes in real environments
Eight patients and five clinical participants helped shape three rounds of prototypes through ethnography and in-field iteration.
Knowledge: support the whole journey
A redesigned support model addressed insurance, injection training, habit formation, and life after treatment.
Action: fit treatment into daily life
A refrigerator-friendly kit organized medication and weekly progress cues around patients’ daily routines.
Outcomes
Sustained improvement over seven years
Adherence reached 25% after one year, then climbed steadily by two percentage points per year through year seven.
A system patients can live with
Patient feedback described a compact kit that made storage and treatment tracking easier.
+2 ptsPercentage-point gain each year through year seven
$570M→$1.23BRevenue growth from launch through year seven
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