Mapping pathways for communicating women's health information

Enhancing Multidisciplinary models of care through digital health to help women navigate their health journeys

Abnormal Uterine Bleeding (AUB) affects 25% of women of reproductive age, yet it remains widely under-diagnosed and poorly managed. Women seeking care often face delayed diagnoses, fragmented services, and poor care coordination—challenges that Multi-disciplinary Team (MDT)-driven models aim to address by integrating multiple health disciplines. However, the implementation of MDTs is often hindered by communication gaps, inefficient workflows, and limited digital support systems, particularly in women's health settings.

These challenges not only impact individual health outcomes but also strain healthcare providers and systems, leading to inefficiencies, higher costs, and missed opportunities for early intervention.

Doing the Research

Researching existing MDT models in oncology and other specialties helped me see how structured, team-based care can improve patient outcomes—but it also made me wonder: why wasn't this approach more widely implemented in women's health? What systemic barriers were preventing women from receiving timely, coordinated care?

Field Studies and Participatory Observation

I knew that secondary research could only take me so far—I needed to see and experience first hand how these systems functioned in real time.

With a strong theoretical foundation, I immersed myself in the clinical environment through weekly visits to WHR, one of the first MDT clinics dedicated to women's health in Sydney.

Collating all this information, I mapped WHR's MDT model of care, analysing information flows between patients, internal providers, and external healthcare services. This stage deepened my understanding of the real-world challenges faced by women's health providers and patients, providing firsthand evidence of the gaps in digital communication and workflow integration.

What did I find?

One of the biggest insights from my fieldwork was how much burden is placed on the patient to coordinate their own care. Many women were left to navigate referrals, schedule follow-ups, and chase medical records across different providers—often without a clear sense of what was happening next in their treatment journey.

I also observed how clinicians and administrative staff interacted with digital systems. While digital tools were in place, they were often disjointed—leading to gaps in communication, redundant data entry, and inefficiencies that impacted both staff and patients.

Key Findings

Analysing the Data

As I began coding my field notes, patterns started to emerge. I mapped out the entire patient journey, pinpointing the most critical pain points.

Following my field research, I coded my observational field notes and applied thematic analysis using Braun and Clarke's framework. This process allowed me to extract patterns and key themes related to:

High-level overview of the Thematic Analysis process:

Generating Insights

With a clear picture of where the healthcare experience was breaking down, I shifted my focus to actionable insights.

Through field research, patient journey mapping, and stakeholder engagement, several critical insights emerged that highlighted systemic pain points in women's healthcare delivery and opportunities for digital innovation.

These insights underscored the urgent need for digital integration — not just to improve clinician workflows, but to empower women with more transparent, accessible, and coordinated healthcare experiences. Addressing these gaps required rethinking digital health solutions with a user-centred approach, ensuring that technology bridges, rather than reinforces, the existing disconnects in women's healthcare.

A meaningful contribution to women's health

The research conducted during this internship has made a meaningful contribution to Women's Health Road's (WHR) ongoing efforts to optimise Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) care models through the integration of digital health technologies. The project's findings have directly supported WHR's vision to establish a scalable, digitally enabled "hub" model for MDT care, with the potential to improve care coordination, patient experience, and health outcomes — particularly in underserved communities.

I was lucky enough to watch this work be presented at the 3-day Digital Health Festival in Melbourne. This platform enabled the dissemination of the project's insights to a diverse audience of clinicians, researchers, and digital health innovators. The presentation underscored the critical need for digitally integrated MDT models in women's healthcare and demonstrated the value of user-centred research in guiding digital transformation.

Panel discussion at the Digital Health Festival, Melbourne:

Reflections

~ Serena