In The Know
I remember the day my team received content from the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) to build a module for prospective marrow donors. We get content from clients in pretty much any format you can imagine, so this one seemed a bit slim—an innocuous looking DVD. We all huddled around a tv in the office kitchen and popped it in. The DVD turned out to be a video that NMDP would send to prospective donors—basically the old-school version of what we were about to build.
Now, I’ve never had a needle phobia before. How bad could this be? I’ll spare you the graphic details, but imagine a giant needle, plu—
Nevermind. There is really no way to describe the existing content without getting into some stuff that would make even the toughest patient squeamish. Objective number one: make sure this module doesn’t terrify people.
I think that’s something In The Know, the resulting online module, does extremely well. Yes, there are needles involved in donating bone marrow. But there’s a lot of other stuff that helps donors to endure those few uncomfortable moments. While e-toughening may be appropriate in some situations, it’s really not required of marrow donors. After all, they can close their eyes and may never have to see anything squeamish.
Fast-forward about a year to the eHealthcare Leadership Awards. We didn’t know NMDP was entering, so imagine our excitement to hear that In The Know took silver in the Best Interactive Site category. When I reflect on how far the content has come, it’s doubly-exciting to know that the site is getting this extra boost of post-launch attention.
What’s most important, of course, is the patients whose lives are affected by the project. All of the care, sensitivity, and, yes, interactivity that went into this module adds up to a piece that profoundly impacts lives. I don’t know the number of patients that have been affected, but eliminating that giant, scary needle from the picture and putting information in an easy-to-access format can only lead to growing the registry. And that means a growing number of patients who have a shot at finding their match.
Maria Liccardo
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Senior Project Manager, Third Noggin
NogginLabs, Inc.
