The purpose of the thesis was to describe the profiles and service path of health care professionals who carry out patient guidance for laboratory tests, and to identify the competence needed for successful patient guidance. The aim was to develop new proposals that can improve patient guidance to laboratory tests and to develop the pain points of the service path to be smoother and more customer-oriented. The service design targeted those healthcare professionals who make referrals for laboratory tests, and they are referred to as customers.

The thesis progressed with the double diamond model of service design. In the discover phase, a survey was conducted among patients in Kempele's NordLab laboratory who had received incomplete guidance, and an electronic friend book and a themed group interview with the nurses and doctors of Kempele Wellbeing Centre who participated in service design. In the define phase, customer profiles, an empathy map and the current service path for patient guidance for laboratory tests were formed based on previous information. In the development phase, a workshop was organized following the brainstorming method, and the value proposition map of the service, was formulated. After that, another workshop was organised in the form of a virtual brainstorming session. In the final development phase, action proposals were created for both Pohte (Wellbeing Service County) and NordLab.

The new proposals are IT solutions that could make the patient guidance to laboratory tests easier. The first action proposal is related to the reminder text message received by the patient, which the appointment booking software sends to the customer when the laboratory appointment has been created in the system. This reminder text message could include a notification to the customer to check any preparation instructions for laboratory tests on NordLab's website, as well as a direct link to the "Preparation" page in the "For patients" section of NordLab's website. The challenge of the proposed action is that the patient may not know what laboratory tests the doctor has prescribed and therefore cannot look for preparation instructions. However, the idea behind the action proposal is to make the patient think about the possibility of preparation instructions and to encourage them to find out before the booked time in the laboratory. The second action proposal related to the stage when a healthcare professional makes a laboratory test request in the wellbeing centre's IT system. Once all laboratory tests needed for patient have been selected and the laboratory referral is saved, the IT system would automatically open NordLab's patient preparation instructions for all examinations that require preparation on the computer screen. From the screen they could be easily printed.