De Kapstok
With an aging population and the rising demand for personalized care, the home care sector faces growing challenges. Both care professionals and informal caregivers are essential in providing support, but often face difficulties that can affect the quality of care. This project focuses on developing a digital platform, De Kapstok (The Coat rack), to bridge these gaps by improving communication and collaboration between care professionals, informal caregivers, and care recipients. By prioritizing informal care, De Kapstok aims to foster meaningful, personal interactions that help clients feel safe and valued in their own homes.
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Problem Statement
The home care sector struggles with challenges like inefficient communication, unbalanced task distribution, and increasing (time) pressure on both professional and informal caregivers. These issues create gaps in care quality and place a heavy burden on those involved. The task was to develop a solution that not only supports these groups and ease the care process but also maintains commercial viability. Most importantly, the solution had to focus on fostering personal, meaningful interactions between care professionals and care recipients to ensure they feel at home and well cared for.
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Solution
To address these challenges, I developed De Kapstok aimed at improving communication and collaboration among care professionals, informal caregivers, and care recipients. Before creating the solution, I conducted thorough research, including interviews and observations, to better understand the healthcare sector and the pain points faced by users.
After analyzing existing products, I identified a gap in the market. De Kapstok is a platform that integrates well with current systems, simplifying daily care tasks for all involved. To improve care quality, enhancing communication is key.
De Kapstok features two interfaces: one for care professionals, integrating with their work schedules, and another for informal caregivers and relatives. A central focus is on informal care, ensuring personal interactions remain separate from medical details to respect privacy laws. This distinction is important because clients want to be treated as individuals, and mixing personal and medical information can lead to confusion or discomfort.
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Product
For Care Professionals:
De Kapstok offers a tablet-based app providing care professionals with an easy-to-use interface. When they arrive at a client’s home, they receive a message with key informal details about the client. These updates, shared by relatives, include the client’s mood, needs, and concerns. The platform also features "icebreakers"—conversation starters created by relatives to improve communication and build rapport. This way, everyone stays connected and informed, making the caregiving process more effective.
For Informal Caregivers and Relatives:
The mobile app for informal caregivers and relatives allows them to share updates about their loved one’s mood, health, or specific situations. They can also contribute "icebreakers" to facilitate more meaningful conversations. In addition, the platform includes tools for managing a shared to-do list, ensuring everyone involved in the care process knows who is responsible for each task. This creates a collaborative environment, improving consistency and care quality.
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Result
The product, named De Kapstok, serves as a welcoming entry into the care experience. It features warm, home-like colors for informal caregivers, while professionals use a fresh blue design to emphasize clarity and professionalism.
Although De Kapstok hasn't been fully implemented yet, it was tested with positive feedback. Care professionals found it filled gaps in communication and preparation, while informal caregivers appreciated its help in coordinating care and staying connected. The platform shows strong potential to improve care quality and collaboration.