Page 120 - Experience Based Co-design - a toolkit for Australia

THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE
WHAT
The biggest difference tool provides evidence of what difference an improvement has made (or will make) to a patient’s experience.
It also helps identify the key aspects of the experience that have been (or will be) changed and what part of the service made (or is likely to make) the difference.
WHY
This tool is important because it focuses on the patient’s experience. It is designed to allow you to explore an improvement without needing detailed knowledge of the ‘original’ (pre-improvement) experience. But with this knowledge, it does allow you to compare and contrast the new experiences with the original.
WHEN
You can use this tool to evaluate a prototype or pilot version of an improvement, or to monitor the performance of an improvement after implementation.
Questions to ask about improvements:
What is different about this improvement for you?
Was anything else different? [Repeat until they say ‘no’.]
What effects, good and bad, did [name one difference they mentioned] have for you? [Repeat until all differences have been checked.]
What was the biggest difference the improvement made for you?
What effects, good and bad, did this biggest difference have for you? What were the effects during your times at home and in the rest of your life, as well as in the service?
What ideas and suggestions do you have about making this difference even bigger and better for you?
HOW
1. Identify the key users of the improvement (patients are used as a general group in the steps below)
Make sure you have identified the types of patients an improvement is designed for. It pays to select a range of types to check the improvement is working equally well for all, or to assess that it is working best for those who need it most (without compromising the service for others).
2. Have patients experience the improvement
You can set up the experience by using prototyping, or by working with patients who have experienced the improvement during actual service delivery. Either way, it helps to observe them having the experience (see patient shadowing, to learn first-hand what happens).
Adapted with permission from healthcodesign.org.nz