Vitamin Lab

Aim

TI Lithuania launched a social design experiment, "Vitamin Lab" , to see if changing a clinic's environment indirectly affected the behaviour and attitudes of patients, increased transparency and reduced bribery.

Landscape

Lithuanian residents believe that healthcare institutions and hospitals are some of the most corrupt institutions in Lithuania. Over the past five years, every second resident gave a bribe at a hospital and every fourth in a polyclinic . Although the issue of corruption in healthcare has been attracting more and more attention in recent years, the general trend remains significantly unchanged.

Activities

1. Two representative surveys of patients were conducted before and after the initiative.
   Research & analysisRisk assessment, vulnerability map & baseline study
2. For two months, a clinic’s waiting area was converted into an interactive feedback-giving space in which all patients were actively invited to evaluate their visit.
   Trial & implement new approach
3. A practical guidebook for healthcare institutions on how to achieve small victories was prepared and disseminated.
   AdvocacyAwareness raising

Achievements

1. Patients of Lazdynai Outpatient Clinic became more open to providing feedback about the work of the clinic which led to a more positive evaluation of doctors' work.
2. Doctors were more open to discussing their values when working with patients and were more welcome to receiving feedback.

Lessons Learnt

1. Corruption is a sensitive topic for both patients and doctors, therefore it is very important to ensure that surveys are anonymous and confidential. Ensuring the higher level of anonymity might increase the level of participation and also show to the public a more realistic picture of the service evaluation.
2. In order to obtain accurate results and identify the real trends, it is necessary to ensure that the surveys are representative.
3. Based on qualitative data, the feedback system should be simple and easily comprehensible; should be interactive; should maintain anonymity; should be sustainable; should contain broad and simple categories but evaluate specific areas (or each doctor); and should be implemented in several, at best all polyclinics in order make the results comparable.
4. Vitamin Lab evaluation categories should be adapted to the context of a particular healthcare institution and best reflect the patients’ daily experiences.