Enhans Project - Doctor Patient Communication

Explainer videos

MULTILINGUAL AUDIENCE | ILLITERATE AUDIENCE | INFORMATION RETENTION | CONVEYING COMPLEX INFORMATION

Our explainer videos are simple short animations that are intended to be visual aids for doctors to use while counselling patients.

How do they work?

The audio and the visuals together take the patient through every aspect of the medical condition, including basic anatomy of the brain, details about treatment, risks and costs involved.

The narration is translated into four different languages - English, Kannada, Hindi, and Bengali, to cater to our multilingual target audience.

Why are they needed?

In the NIIR department at NIMHANS, the procedures are often complex in nature and can sometimes be difficult to understand, especially if the patient does not have a strong understanding of the medical field.

Before any procedure, it is essential for the patient to be able to understand their medical condition and the treatment it requires, to be able to take an informed decision on whether or not they want to proceed with the treatment.

During one of our visits to the hospital, we witnessed one such interaction between Dr. Hima and the son of one of her patients. The patient was a 75-year-old man with an aneurysm and a pre-existing heart condition. It was important for his family to understand the options for treatment and the risks that came with his cardiac condition; however, it was difficult for Dr. Hima to communicate with the family as they only spoke Kannada and she speaks Hindi and English.

She brought a resident doctor who spoke Kannada and asked him to translate, however he was not able to efficiently translate what Dr. Hima was saying and the patient's family ended up misunderstanding the options that they had for their father's treatment.

At this point, Preetham, one of our Kannada speaking teammates, had to intervene and help explain what Dr. Hima was actually saying.

Since NIMHANS is a large government establishment with a high number of patients who come from different parts of the country, there often arises a situation in which the doctor and the patient don't speak the same language, making communication and thus decsion-making extremely difficult for both the patient and the doctor.

How can they help?

In several situations, when the doctor and the patient do not speak the same language, the doctor may have to bring in another person to translate the information for the patient. Since this person may not be a professional translator, there is often miscommunication. The videos act as a replacements for the translator in such situations, ensuring that the patient and their family receive accurate information, in a language with which they feel comfortable. The videos explain the conditions at an easy pace with the help of simple, realistic visuals so that it is easier for the patient to absorb and retain the information that is being given to them. The audio visual format of the videos also enables people who cannot read to be able to understand the information as easily as people who can.

All of the above factors can contribute to making doctor-patient communication more efficient and free from human error.

The explainer videos can help the patient better understand their medical condition and the treatment that they have to undergo, so that they're in a position to take an informed decision.

We created explainer videos about two conditions: aneurysms and basilar artery strokes. The former, a seven-minute animation, which goes in-depth into the condition and its symptoms, its diagnosis and treatment, can be viewed here. The latter differs in that a stroke requires immediate treatment because any delay can severely affect the patient’s life. The doctors’ repeated emphasis on the urgency of this situation led us to design this for viewing on a mobile screen, such as in the casualty ward for example, and condense the given information to a shorter animation of three minutes. The intention is for this to help the patient’s family receive all the essentials details and make a decision as quickly as possible. The explainer video for basilar artery stroke may be viewed here.

When Manasi was at the NIIR department to test out our prototypes, a patient’s son and daughter-in-law came in for counselling but the doctors were all otherwise occupied performing interventions. A doctor would only be available for consultation after an hour and so the couple was shown a preliminary version of the aneurysm explainer video in Kannada in the interim. This allowed them to receive details about the patient’s condition and options for treatment immediately instead of having to wait without any information. By the time a doctor was ready to meet them, they had thought about and discussed the treatment between themselves and were prepared with questions

‘’Just because these people cannot afford to go to a private healthcare set up doesn’t mean they don’t deserve an explanation as to what has happened to their family member. The main reason for this is language barrier. Since these explanations will be available in a majority of the languages, we will finally be able to help them make informed decisions!’’

‘’It will be very interesting to see how this particular class responds to this medium. They are used to watching television a lot, so we are hoping they respond to this kind of counselling positively’

- Doctors at the the DSA Department of NIMHANS