design lessons i learned from the sunscreen song

Lately I've been doing a lot of research about designing clinical interactions. Specifically, in how clinicians can interact with patients to boost healthcare outcomes. It strikes me how similar it all is to happiness research (The Happiness Project was this week's travel book). Designing smart interactions is like designing a happy life:

1. We're happier when we have meaningful relationships in our lives. A doctor-patient relationship in which both parties contribute to the conversation leads to better health outcomes and more patient satisfaction.

Also, did you know that the best predictor of loneliness is the number of female friends you have? Male friends don't make any difference in the loneliness statistics; it's because women are easier to open up to. This might make a great case for why people prefer female doctors.

I also find this sort of worrisome, because I have few female friends.

2. Patients are more likely to be compliant when there is a clear link between action and result. Feedback is a core tenet of interaction design. It's frustrating to receive instructions from a doctor, follow them meticulously, and not see the intended result. Since health is individual and outcomes are not guarantees, we should design devices to facilitate this kind of feedback as best we can. And related...

3. We shouldn't compare our outcomes to those of others. You can replicate treatments, but you can't guarantee outcomes from patient to patient. We're all different, and it takes different things to make each of us healthy. We've all  heard the crazy stories of the man who lived to be 90 smoking a pack a day, and the perfectly healthy marathoner getting metastasizing cancer. Our science is unique; that's what makes us works of art. Similarly, keeping up with the Joneses doesn't make you happier, because the things that make you happy are different.

4. Experiences make us happier than things. Visiting someone in the hospital is much more meaningful than sending flowers.

A great line in the book is "there is no love; there are only proofs of love." This isn't unlike Khalil Gibran's line in The Prophet, "Work is love made visible." Or Covey's idea that love is a verb, not a feeling. Proactive people treat love as an action. But I digress.

5. People who are grateful for what they have and appreciate their lives the way they are have shorter recovery periods and a higher quality of life. So much so that the American Heart Association has counseling programs for stroke sufferers on positive thinking.

Basically, these are all things I learned from the Sunscreen Song (it's here if you haven't heard it). It's easy to overcomplicate clinical design and positive interactions with bells, and whistles, and features. But there are no secrets to happy, and no secrets to healthy, either.

Get to know your parents; you never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings - they're your best link to your past, and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Being nice to my brother on Rakhi, many moons ago.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few, you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

I'm thankful for the kind of friends that bridge gaps in geography and fly into town just to have dinner (thanks, friend!).

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead; sometimes you're behind. The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.

Maybe you'll marry; maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children; maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40; maybe you'll dance the funky chicken at your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, and don't berate yourself. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.

Enjoy your body; use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it, or what other people think of it - it is the greatest instrument you will ever own.

Learning something new at Circus Fitness class.

Writing closing sentences has never been a strong suite of mine. It just feels awkward. But I love the ending to the song, which circles back to the research ("but trust me on the sunscreen"). So I'll circle back to the research:

The findings here are tentative and in need of replication. Until then, including empathy in the clinical encounter has little potential for harm and has positive influences that extend beyond the medical consultation. A “connection” also enhances continuity and builds a foundation for relationship-centered primary care within the patient’s medical home.