Personas

In general, a persona is a (visualised) fictional character that “summarize[s] user research findings and bring[s] that research to life in such a way that everyone can make decisions based on these personas, not based on themselves” (1). The input for defining the features of personas can be derived from user research data or from individuals and their personal experiences.

The BEAMER personas focus on users of the BEAMER framework and its tooling within different settings and contexts. This enables the consortium to address their needs properly, for example throughout the implementation process in the piloting phase of the project. The identified BEAMER personas are generic so that it is possible for them to be applied in the context of different healthcare systems and settings.

The resulting sets of BEAMER framework user personas represent different healthcare professional (HCP) groups, patient organisations, and pharmaceutical companies representing a variety of implementation and usage settings. They primarily serve as a tool to enable e.g. the tailored creation of implementation materials (training materials, user manual, etc.) to meet these end users’ needs.

Blueprint personas were used for the illustration of the personas. These illustrations for personas were created in the context of the European Blueprint on Digital Transformation of Health and Care for the Ageing Society and the We4AHA project. 

The BEAMER personas presented on this page are:

Healthcare Professional (HCP) Personas (4)

One Patient Organisation Persona

Pharmaceutical Industry Personas (3)

1. Mulder, S., & Yaar, Z. (2007). The user is always right: A practical guide to creating and using personas for the web. Berkeley, CA: New Riders. P. 19.

BEAMER Personas

Healthcare professionals (HCPs) Personas

The primary aim of the end user personas is to support the creation of materials to support the implementation of the BEAMER model framework and to help define requirements for the elements of the BEAMER model framework. Hence, HCPs represent the primary envisaged end user group of the BEAMER model framework and associated AIVP.

Elsa  
- 61yo
Established Healthcare Professional (HCP)

“I have a lot of experience in my role and I have well established working practices which support patients well. I have a high workload and I have limited time to learn to use or implement new tools.”

Tomas 
- 35yo
Support Healthcare Professional (HCP)

“I play an important and supportive role in delivering care and my work involves a lot of patient interaction. It is important to me that new tools are easy to use and that the outputs are helpful in supporting patients.”

Galina  
- 46yo
Managerial Healthcare Professional (HCP)

“I am in a decision-making role and it is important to me to introduce and promote supportive tools across my healthcare facility and ensure everyone knows why and how to use the tool to help patients.”

Elsa  
- 61yo
Established Healthcare Professional (HCP)

“I have a lot of experience in my role and I have well established working practices which support patients well. I have a high workload and I have limited time to learn to use or implement new tools.”

Tomas 
- 35yo
Support Healthcare Professional (HCP)

“I play an important and supportive role in delivering care and my work involves a lot of patient interaction. It is important to me that new tools are easy to use and that the outputs are helpful in supporting patients.”

Galina  
- 46yo
Managerial Healthcare Professional (HCP)

“I am in a decision-making role and it is important to me to introduce and promote supportive tools across my healthcare facility and ensure everyone knows why and how to use the tool to help patients.”

Sven 
- 31yo
Implementer Healthcare Professional (HCP)

“I support the decision maker in implementation processes across my organisation. It is important to me that tools are easy to use and that they enable a standardised approach towards patient adherence to treatment among HCPs.”

Sven 
- 31yo
Implementer Healthcare Professional (HCP)

“I support the decision maker in implementation processes across my organisation. It is important to me that tools are easy to use and that they enable a standardised approach towards patient adherence to treatment among HCPs.”

Patient Organisation Persona

Patient organisations are considered potential users of the model outputs. Consequently, personas were designed for these groups to assure that the implementation materials may also support their needs in the longer term, thus fostering sustainability of the project outputs.

Isabella  
- 55yo
Patient Organisation

"In implementing the BEAMER model, we want to be able to respond to the different needs of our patients to ensure their adherence, build a supportive community and improve outcomes."

Pharmaceutical Industry Personas

Pharmaceutical industry are also considered to be primary end users of the BEAMER model framework and are envisaged to integrate the BEAMER outputs into their own platforms and to develop patient support programmes. Given the variety of use cases in the context of the pharmaceutical industry, a modular approach towards the implementation materials will be considered going forward to accommodate this end user group’s needs.

Eric  
- 49yo
Marketing Manager

"In implementing BEAMER, if you can demonstrate that with BEAMER we can enhance our patient focus and improve outcomes, I’m on board!"

Laura 
- 39yo
Digital Health Product Owner

"In implementing BEAMER in one of our applications, I need to ensure it’s a reliable tool, easy to integrate into my tech stack."

Layla  
- 47yo
Medical Affairs Director

"In implementing BEAMER, I need to trust the model and the data. Also, I need to know that if we ask for patients’ time and feedback, we give back and reward them."

Healthcare Professional

The primary aim of the end user personas is to support the creation of materials to support the implementation of the BEAMER model framework and to help define requirements for the elements of the BEAMER model framework. Hence, healthcare professionals (HCPs) represent the primary envisaged end user group of the BEAMER model framework and the associated Adherence Intelligence Visualisation Platform (AIVP)

It is one learning from the joint design process that the job titles of healthcare professional team members do not necessarily predict the roles they would play within the change management process for implementing BEAMER and installing it as a standard model within healthcare. Additionally, the role and responsibilities of certain job titles, for example nurse, varies across different healthcare systems and would affect how they interact with the BEAMER model outputs and the access they would be permitted and so it would not be helpful to include these job titles: The four personas represent role-independent archetypes within the group of HCPs. They encompass a Managerial HCP Persona, an Implementer HCP Persona, a Support HCP Persona, and a Established HCP Persona.

These healthcare professional personas may be further tailored to specific healthcare settings depending on the needs of the individual pilot sites. Thus, adapted or spin-off versions of these original personas may be considered. The persona displays include a summarising statement, goals, challenges, experience, and needs to enhance the accessibility and usability of the model while minimising user burden.

Patient Organisation

Patient organisations are considered potential users of the model outputs. Consequently, personas were designed for these groups to assure that the implementation materials may also support their needs in the longer term, thus fostering sustainability of the project outputs.

The identified focus areas within this persona are goals, needs, skills and tools, along with potential challenges anticipated during the implementation process. The persona emphasises awareness-raising, capacity building, education, peer support provision, and the promotion of research and development in therapeutic care.

The patient organisation persona serves as a theoretical framework representing how patient organisations could benefit from and include the BEAMER model framework in their therapy and care related as well as their organisational work. This persona comprises the needs, goals, challenges and necessary tools, facilitating preparation and implementation of the model and optimising the user experience of patient organisations as end users of the BEAMER model framework. It can be used as a guide to identify potential obstacles and understand the prerequisites for a patient organisation to successfully adopt and integrate the BEAMER model framework.

“In implementing the BEAMER model, we want to be able to respond to the different needs of our patients to ensure their adherence, build a supportive community and improve outcomes.”