A patient journey map to improve the home isolation experience of persons with mild COVID-19: Design research for service touchpoints of artificial intelligence in eHealth

Background: In the context of the COVID-19 outbreak, 80% of the persons who are infected have mild symptoms and are required to self-recover at home. They have a strong demand for remote health care that, despite the great potential of artificial intelligence (AI), is not met by the current services of eHealth. Understanding the real needs of these persons is lacking. Objective: The aim of this paper is to contribute a fine-grained understanding of the home isolation experience of persons with mild COVID-19 symptoms to enhance AI in eHealth services. Methods: A design research method with a qualitative approach was used to map the patient journey. Data on the home isolation experiences of persons with mild COVID-19 symptoms was collected from the top-viewed personal video stories on YouTube and their comment threads. For the analysis, this data was transcribed, coded, and mapped into the patient journey map. Results: The key findings on the home isolation experience of persons with mild COVID-19 symptoms concerned (1) an awareness period before testing positive, (2) less typical and more personal symptoms, (3) a negative mood experience curve, (5) inadequate home health care service support for patients, and (6) benefits and drawbacks of social media support. Conclusions: The design of the patient journey map and underlying insights on the home isolation experience of persons with mild COVID-19 symptoms serves health and information technology professionals in more effectively applying AI technology into eHealth services, for which three main service concepts are proposed: (1) trustworthy public health information to relieve stress, (2) personal COVID-19 health monitoring, and (3) community support.