In coming to Genentech and applying my user experience skills here, one of my first realizations was that a patient’s journey doesn’t begin with diagnosis, and it doesn’t end with the completion of treatment. \u00a0It begins with the early symptoms that the person might not even recognize immediately. \u00a0Getting to a diagnosis is not the start of the journey; instead, it’s one of the milestones. \u00a0For some patients, especially for many of the treatments that Genentech makes, their journey is a lifelong one. \u00a0For others, it ends not when treatment is completed, but when they have recovered and completed everything associated with their diagnosis and treatment.<\/p>\n
We published an article called “Beyond the diagnosis”<\/a> which explores a lot of these ideas. \u00a0I’m very happy to see others here who are thinking about the whole experience of being a patient. \u00a0This passage certainly resonates with a lot of the work that I have been doing in the past few months:<\/p>\n Sometimes the cause of a health problem is clear. Other times, it takes years to pinpoint what\u2019s happening in a patient\u2019s body. The uncertainty associated with noticing early symptoms but not understanding their causes can be as debilitating as a disease itself.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This article is a great way to think about what it means to be a patient, and what we in healthcare can do to improve the experience and the outcome for the patient.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In coming to Genentech and applying my user experience skills here, one of my first realizations was that a patient’s journey doesn’t begin with diagnosis, and it doesn’t end with the completion of treatment. \u00a0It begins with the early symptoms that the person might not even recognize immediately. \u00a0Getting to a diagnosis is not the … Continue reading “beyond the diagnosis”<\/span>