Time

2024 – 2026

Client

National Heart & Lung Centre Dublin

Team

Mater Transformation: Lisa Joyce, Mallory Frye, Siobhan Manning

My role

Research, Co-creation facilitation, UX/UI design, Videography & Storytelling

Challenge

Current patient education resources are fragmented, clinical, and don’t address the emotional and complex needs of lung transplant patients and families.

Outcome

Patient information suite including a digital information hub, patient-led video series and a printed transplant book as well as improvements to the clinical service delivery.

Impact

Launch of Ireland’s first national education platform for lung transplant which supports 60+ transplant patients and families each year with trusted information.

Service impact

• Ireland’s first national website for lung transplant care.
  
  

• Supports 60+ transplant patients and families each year with consistent and trusted information.
  
  

• Sets a new standard for clear, empathetic patient education in lifelong care pathways.
  
  

• A scalable model for other complex specialties (eg. heart transplant) or chronic desease care (eg. diabetes) 

New service system

The outcome merges medically approved content with accessible digital formats, a printed book and a compelling video series that brings empathy and peer connection to the forefront.

All those elements complement the existing service to ensure clarity, trust, and most importantly emotional support along the lifelong care pathway.

1/4

Research

‘Looking back, I don’t remember one single comprehensive item that talks me through what would happen to me.’

—  Lung transplant recipient (2022)

Ethnographic research

• Review of existing information materials to identify gaps and complexity
• Shadowing of the multidisciplinary transplant team and patients in clinic and on the ward

In-depth interviews

• Lung transplant patients
• Care partners
• Clinical staff 
  
  

My role: Leading the research phase by gathering and synthesising insights across patients and clinical stakeholders, and translating them into coherent service principles.

Synthesis

Identifying recurring challenges across the transplant journey:

• access to information,
• communication with healthcare staff,
• tailored support for families and carers,
• peer connections.

2/4

Co-design

Transplant journey map

• Collaborative mapping of patients' lung transplant experience
• Journey map became the foundation for structuring the information suite across formats (print, digital, video).

Staff Workshops

• Facilitated co-design sessions with transplant team:
  • Physicians
  • Pre and post transplant nurses
  • Surgeons
  • Pharmacists
  • Physiotherapists
  • Dietitians
  • Psychologists
  • Social Workers
  • Palliative Care
    
    
• Workshops helped identify critical timing for information delivery and aligned patient needs with staff workflows

Design Principles

3/4

Concepts & Prototyping

Card sorting with patients

• Engaging patients in reviewing and sorting content chunks across (at that time) seven transplant stages
• Most valuable insights have been their preferred timing for information chunks at each stage

Paper prototyping

• Exploration of the role of a website as a central information resource
• Low-fidelity wireframes focus on early narratives and usability patterns
  

UX storyboard

This visual narrative helped to communicate the vision to the medical team, highlight key touchpoints for patients and care partners across their journey.

In retrospect, it proved to be a key tool in keeping the wider team engaged throughout the process and excited about the outcome.

4/4

Implementation

1. Website development

• Designed the end-to-end UX and UI in close collaboration with a content designer
• All content carefully curated and medically approved by clinical teams, aligned with NALA and HSE guidelines
• Partnered with a third-party agency to ensure technical delivery matched our design vision

My role: UX/UI design | Figma prototyping | Design system creation | Handover to development

2. Video production

• Produced a central video series made up of 3 strands:
  • Patient stories: to foster peer connection
  • Medical explainers: to support treatment understanding and adherence
  • Care partner voices: to highlight emotional and non-medical challenges

My role: Storyboarding | On-site filming with staff and patients | Video editing in Premiere Pro

3. Transplant book

• Designed a printed patient education booklet to complement the website
• Supporting information can be accessed in clinical settings and at home

My role: Paper prototyping | Layout in InDesign

4. Service improvements

Alongside the patient-facing elements, several clinical service improvements were implemented, such as: 

• Improvement of communication system with local healthcare facilities to enable local blood test options for patients
• Unifying the process within the multidisciplinary transplant team on redirecting patients to appropriate care pathways

My role: Facilitation | Service Mapping | Stakeholder Management