A starter kit for newly diagnosed diabetics 

Challenge: How might we help our diabetes patients achieve better Self-Care and improve their Quality of Life? 
Challenge Giver: Södertälje Hospital
Solution: The Starter Kit
Concept:  A starter kit for newly diagnosed diabetics  with the purpose of giving the patient a good start to their life with their new diagnosis. The starter kit contains of a personal note from the hospital, information about living with diabetes, food guides/recipes, snacks and beverages suitable for diabetics and customised items for different groups.
Challenge Area: Health

Abstract

In collaboration with Södetälje Hospital, our Openlab student group sought to help the hospital to improve the HbA1c of their diabetes patients to appropriate levels. The levels are partially attributed to patient’s poor self-care practices which does not only affect their own well-being, but also has a negative impact on the hospital, as they receive hefty penalties by the government in form of reduced budget allocations. 

In this report we demonstrate our use of the design thinking process to discover solutions that could inspire and promote self-care practices among diabetes patients. We came up with a wide selection, ranging from national implementation to patient and hospital centred tools. In the last phase we settled on the Starter Kit, which received positive feedback from patients and focuses on giving the patient a good start to their life with their new diagnosis.