Increasing Access to Quality Dental Care in Rural Areas
Authors: Morgan Moore, Charis Cook, Jenna Kramer, Akash Nooka, Leo Pechous
August 4, 2023
Munroe-Meyer Institute
Mission
Transform lives of individualswith disabilities and special health care needs through outreach, educational programs, engagement, research, and extensive care.
Dr. Sarah Lowman
Dr. Claire Koukol
Introduction
Objective: We aimed to incorporate design thinking and technical coding skills to create framework for a front-end app that address the inaccessibilty to quality dental care in rural areas
Problem Statement
Patients in rural settings often don't have access to quality medical and dental care. Dental patients often complain that coming to a dental visit at an urban metropolitan location is often stressful. Is there a way to utilize technology to expand dental services to patients in rural settings?
01. Empathize
Importance
The Interviews
Empathy is essential to better understand the issue and its consequences on the end-users.
- Pediatric Dentist at MMI
- Public Health Dentist
- Rural Dentist
- Teledentistry Coordinator
- Rural Patient
- State Dental Health Director
- Physician's Assistant
- UNMC Dental Students
Tools
We conducted empathy interviews using empathy probes and empathy maps.
Takeaways
.Common themes included insurance policy, dental education, teledentistry, and communication
02. Define
Dr. Claire Koukol
- Reevaluated given problem statement
- Identified major pain points
- Noted surprises, made inferences, and created gamechangers
Molly Cornelius
Dr. Sarah Lowman
Dr. Lesley Holloway
Define Tool
Tami Trewet-Sloop
03. Ideate
Problem Identification to Solution Creation
Purely about idea generation
Encourage each other
There are no "bad" ideas
Use the "yes, and..." method to build upon ideas
Volume of ideas
Narrowing down ideas
500+ ideas generated
Viable and Disruptive
04. Prototype
To test the feasibility and practicality of our ideas, we constructed initial wireframes that included features that represented our various ideas.
Secondary Wireframes
Preliminary Wireframes
Revised wireframes after group deliberation and interviews
Served as the backbone for the final framework
Initial Wireframes
Secondary Wireframes
Testing
05.
User Testing is critical to the iterative nature of the design thinking process
Our testing phase followed a simple process:
Develop Test Plan
Implement Changes
Gather Feedback
Final Deliverables
Final Products Created
1. App prototype2. Detailed report
Requirements
Centralized location for patient information More convenient teledentistry Source of education
Medical records and patient information in app Request an appointment Game and resources page
Implementation
Statewide
Munroe-Meyer Institute
- Changes based on report
- Connect rural patients to providers across the state
- Limited scope
- Additional feedback
Conclusion and Impact
Impacts of Our Solution
"'Prevent the disease' through education and routine dental care and 'Treat the disease' by providing access to corrective services." - Dr. Charles Craft
- Contributes to dental education
- Increases convenience of seeking dental care
"An app to bridge the gap." - Molly Cornelius
Acknowledgments
Dr. Sarah Lowman
Tanya Martin
Dr. Charles Craft
Dr. Lesley Holloway
Tami Trewet-Sloop
Dr. Claire Koukol
Luke Andreasen
Mary Kate Garriott
NebDev
Sophia Pankratz
Claire Foster
Molly Cornelius
Kaitlyn Baysa
Harnoor S. Dhaliwal
Wayne Watkins
Alex Mathews
Suzanne and Walter Scott Foundation
Bibliography
“Design Thinking.” Let's Talk Science, 12 December 2022, https://letstalkscience.ca/educational-resources/backgrounders/design-thinking. Accessed 25 July 2023.
“An Introduction to Design Thinking PROCESS GUIDE.” web.stanford.edu, https://web.stanford.edu/~mshanks/MichaelShanks/files/509554.pdf. Accessed 25 July 2023.
“Teledentistry as an Effective Tool for the Communication Improvement between Dentists and Patients: An Overview.” NCBI, 21 August 2022, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9408418/. Accessed 25 July 2023.
Selected Ideas
Dr. Claire Koukol
Surprise: Children with special needs have to travel up to eight hours to receive care in Omaha
Inference: We wonder if this means that MMI has unique qualifications that accommodate and genuinely care for kids with special needs.
Gamechanger: It would be gamechanging to equip a greater number of dental providers with the ability and resources to accommodate for people with special needs.
- Instructions and intriguing icons
- Schedule an appointment -> Request an appointment
- More information -> Oral Health Resources
- Request an appointment may be a better term
- More information about what?
- Confused about what to do
- Not likely to play this game
Molly Cornelius
Surprise: The biggest struggle as a dentist is educating patients.
Inference: We wonder if this means that students do not get enough exposure to patient interactions in school due to budget or curriculum.
Gamechanger: It would be gamechanging for dental students to feel as comfortable educating patients as they do talking to friends.
Dr. Sarah Lowman
Surprise: Teledentistry consultations cannot be billed.
Inference: We wonder if this means that Nebraska legislation is falling behind technological advances.
Gamechanger: It would be gamechanging tto have a process to require all insurance providers to reimburse teledentistry consultations.
Dr. Lesley Holloway
Surprise: She sees 4x the amount of Medicaid patients compared to her colleagues.
Inference: We wonder if this means that other dental providers are less empathetic.
Gamechanger: It would be gamechanging to implement technology to easily conduct secure consultations.
Tami Trewet-Sloop
Surprise: Contrary to the information disclosed in previous interviews, ZOOM can be HIPAA compliant if university login credentials are used.
Inference: We wonder if using university login credentials is a barrier to efficiently and effectively conduct teledentistry consultations with patients using ZOOM.
Gamechanger: It would be gamechanging to implement technology to easily conduct secure consultations.
Teledentistry
UNO Scott Scholars
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Transcript
Increasing Access to Quality Dental Care in Rural Areas
Authors: Morgan Moore, Charis Cook, Jenna Kramer, Akash Nooka, Leo Pechous
August 4, 2023
Munroe-Meyer Institute
Mission
Transform lives of individualswith disabilities and special health care needs through outreach, educational programs, engagement, research, and extensive care.
Dr. Sarah Lowman
Dr. Claire Koukol
Introduction
Objective: We aimed to incorporate design thinking and technical coding skills to create framework for a front-end app that address the inaccessibilty to quality dental care in rural areas
Problem Statement
Patients in rural settings often don't have access to quality medical and dental care. Dental patients often complain that coming to a dental visit at an urban metropolitan location is often stressful. Is there a way to utilize technology to expand dental services to patients in rural settings?
01. Empathize
Importance
The Interviews
Empathy is essential to better understand the issue and its consequences on the end-users.
Tools
We conducted empathy interviews using empathy probes and empathy maps.
Takeaways
.Common themes included insurance policy, dental education, teledentistry, and communication
02. Define
Dr. Claire Koukol
Molly Cornelius
Dr. Sarah Lowman
Dr. Lesley Holloway
Define Tool
Tami Trewet-Sloop
03. Ideate
Problem Identification to Solution Creation
Purely about idea generation
Encourage each other
There are no "bad" ideas
Use the "yes, and..." method to build upon ideas
Volume of ideas
Narrowing down ideas
500+ ideas generated
Viable and Disruptive
04. Prototype
To test the feasibility and practicality of our ideas, we constructed initial wireframes that included features that represented our various ideas.
Secondary Wireframes
Preliminary Wireframes
Revised wireframes after group deliberation and interviews
Served as the backbone for the final framework
Initial Wireframes
Secondary Wireframes
Testing
05.
User Testing is critical to the iterative nature of the design thinking process
Our testing phase followed a simple process:
Develop Test Plan
Implement Changes
Gather Feedback
Final Deliverables
Final Products Created
1. App prototype2. Detailed report
Requirements
Centralized location for patient information More convenient teledentistry Source of education
Medical records and patient information in app Request an appointment Game and resources page
Implementation
Statewide
Munroe-Meyer Institute
Conclusion and Impact
Impacts of Our Solution
"'Prevent the disease' through education and routine dental care and 'Treat the disease' by providing access to corrective services." - Dr. Charles Craft
"An app to bridge the gap." - Molly Cornelius
Acknowledgments
Dr. Sarah Lowman
Tanya Martin
Dr. Charles Craft
Dr. Lesley Holloway
Tami Trewet-Sloop
Dr. Claire Koukol
Luke Andreasen
Mary Kate Garriott
NebDev
Sophia Pankratz
Claire Foster
Molly Cornelius
Kaitlyn Baysa
Harnoor S. Dhaliwal
Wayne Watkins
Alex Mathews
Suzanne and Walter Scott Foundation
Bibliography
“Design Thinking.” Let's Talk Science, 12 December 2022, https://letstalkscience.ca/educational-resources/backgrounders/design-thinking. Accessed 25 July 2023.
“An Introduction to Design Thinking PROCESS GUIDE.” web.stanford.edu, https://web.stanford.edu/~mshanks/MichaelShanks/files/509554.pdf. Accessed 25 July 2023.
“Teledentistry as an Effective Tool for the Communication Improvement between Dentists and Patients: An Overview.” NCBI, 21 August 2022, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9408418/. Accessed 25 July 2023.
Selected Ideas
Dr. Claire Koukol
Surprise: Children with special needs have to travel up to eight hours to receive care in Omaha
Inference: We wonder if this means that MMI has unique qualifications that accommodate and genuinely care for kids with special needs.
Gamechanger: It would be gamechanging to equip a greater number of dental providers with the ability and resources to accommodate for people with special needs.
Molly Cornelius
Surprise: The biggest struggle as a dentist is educating patients.
Inference: We wonder if this means that students do not get enough exposure to patient interactions in school due to budget or curriculum.
Gamechanger: It would be gamechanging for dental students to feel as comfortable educating patients as they do talking to friends.
Dr. Sarah Lowman
Surprise: Teledentistry consultations cannot be billed.
Inference: We wonder if this means that Nebraska legislation is falling behind technological advances.
Gamechanger: It would be gamechanging tto have a process to require all insurance providers to reimburse teledentistry consultations.
Dr. Lesley Holloway
Surprise: She sees 4x the amount of Medicaid patients compared to her colleagues.
Inference: We wonder if this means that other dental providers are less empathetic.
Gamechanger: It would be gamechanging to implement technology to easily conduct secure consultations.
Tami Trewet-Sloop
Surprise: Contrary to the information disclosed in previous interviews, ZOOM can be HIPAA compliant if university login credentials are used.
Inference: We wonder if using university login credentials is a barrier to efficiently and effectively conduct teledentistry consultations with patients using ZOOM.
Gamechanger: It would be gamechanging to implement technology to easily conduct secure consultations.