Growth Frameworks
Jobs To Be Done

What Patients Really Want Before They Call: A Jobs to Be Done Approach

Qualitative Exploration

What Patients Really Want Before They Call: A Jobs to Be Done Approach

Introduction

Choosing a healthcare provider isn't always someone's first step when something feels off. In many cases, patients go through a series of self-guided actions before ever making that call. They might google symptoms, talk to a friend, check insurance coverage, or even wait and see if the issue goes away. These early steps – often invisible to healthcare marketers and providers – matter a great deal. They’re not just background noise; they’re part of the decision journey that can impact whether and when a patient seeks care. At its core, this behavior reflects a simple question: What is the patient trying to solve? Using the Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework, we can start to answer that question – shedding light on the progress patients are trying to make *before* they engage with the healthcare system.
This post explores a critical but often overlooked part of the healthcare experience: the patient’s pre-care journey. Through a Jobs to Be Done in healthcare lens, we look at how patients define their needs, what steps they take to meet them, and how emotion and context influence their decisions. From symptom searches to fears about affordability, these behind-the-scenes moments offer valuable opportunities to reduce friction, build trust, and improve outcomes. Healthcare decision-makers – whether in marketing, product design, patient experience, or service development – will benefit from better understanding what patients are really doing before they reach out. If your goal is to improve your brand’s accessibility, minimize appointment delays, or tailor communication more effectively, the insights found here can help. Powerful consumer research, rooted in empathy and evidence, reveals not just what patients do, but why – and that level of depth is essential for unlocking more effective, people-first solutions.
This post explores a critical but often overlooked part of the healthcare experience: the patient’s pre-care journey. Through a Jobs to Be Done in healthcare lens, we look at how patients define their needs, what steps they take to meet them, and how emotion and context influence their decisions. From symptom searches to fears about affordability, these behind-the-scenes moments offer valuable opportunities to reduce friction, build trust, and improve outcomes. Healthcare decision-makers – whether in marketing, product design, patient experience, or service development – will benefit from better understanding what patients are really doing before they reach out. If your goal is to improve your brand’s accessibility, minimize appointment delays, or tailor communication more effectively, the insights found here can help. Powerful consumer research, rooted in empathy and evidence, reveals not just what patients do, but why – and that level of depth is essential for unlocking more effective, people-first solutions.

What Do Patients Do Before They Contact a Healthcare Provider?

Before booking a doctor’s appointment, many patients take a series of independent actions based on their own understanding, resources, and needs. This behavior can vary widely across ages, conditions, and personal circumstances – but some common patterns emerge. Recognizing them is critical for anyone aiming to better meet patient expectations and reduce barriers to care.

Self-Research Is Often the First Step

For many patients, the journey starts with online research. Search engines, medical forums, and health-related apps are go-to tools for understanding symptoms and possible causes. Typing "headache and nausea after eating" or "rash on arm won’t go away" into a search bar is one of the most typical early moves. These searches don’t always lead to accurate conclusions, but they reflect an effort to make sense of what's happening.

This kind of self-education is a clear signal that patients are attempting to solve a “job” on their own – whether that’s identifying a potential diagnosis, figuring out severity, or deciding if they even need care.

Evaluating Options, Not Just Symptoms

Once they determine that medical care may be needed, the next step is often evaluating where to go. Patients may:

     
  • Compare provider reviews online
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  • Check insurance network directories
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  • Consult social media or personal networks for recommendations
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  • Visit provider or hospital websites to assess professionalism and available services

Notice that these are not purely clinical decisions – they include emotional and practical filters like "Is this doctor trustworthy?" or "Will they understand people like me?" This is where effective healthcare marketing becomes especially influential.

Delays and Postponement Are Common

Even when someone suspects they should see a professional, delays are frequent. This could be due to fear, time constraints, high deductibles, or uncertainty about what kind of doctor to call. These hesitations are part of the patient behavior story – and understanding them provides valuable consumer insights for the healthcare industry.

So when we ask, what do patients do before calling a doctor, the answer is: quite a lot. They observe, weigh their options, and try to take control. Mapping this behavior lays the foundation for more informed service design and outreach strategies.

Understanding the Pre-Care Journey: Research, Anxiety, and Delays

The period before a patient seeks care – often called the pre-care journey – is filled with questions, emotions, and hurdles. Understanding this space is essential to improving outreach and ensuring that care is not only available but accessible and inviting. Through a Jobs to Be Done lens, we shift from thinking about what services patients use to what they’re trying to accomplish in their own lives. This simple change unlocks a deeper understanding of patient motivations.

What Are Patients Actually Trying to Do?

Patients often aren’t trying to “find a doctor” right away. Instead, they’re trying to:

     
  • Reassure themselves that symptoms aren’t serious
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  • Understand how to manage a concern independently
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  • Validate that care is worth the time or cost
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  • Feel confident they'll be heard and respected

All of these needs can exist before a provider ever enters the picture. When we view actions through this broader lens, opportunities to reduce friction and improve patient experience before care become much clearer.

Anxiety as a Barrier

Anxiety plays a large role in the patient decision-making process. A patient may avoid calling not because they don’t care, but because they’re afraid of a diagnosis, ashamed of not knowing what to say, or worried about being misjudged. Supporting patients through this invisible intimidation can significantly improve engagement. Messaging that acknowledges concerns and offers clear, non-judgmental next steps can reduce avoidance behaviors.

Moments Where Patients Get Stuck

Let’s look at a common, fictional example: A 35-year-old woman notices persistent knee pain. She googles possible causes, finds overwhelming results, and puts off care for weeks. She considers calling but isn't sure if she needs a specialist or if insurance will cover it. The technical barrier is low – she could easily make a call – but the emotional and informational barriers are high.

This type of scenario is one of many we uncover when conducting healthcare market research at SIVO. Through qualitative interviews, journey mapping, and behavior analysis, we often find that the loudest signals are in these quiet, pre-care moments – and they can shape the entire care experience.

Supporting the Patient Before the Call

To truly improve the patient experience before care, organizations must meet people where they are. Consider these guiding ideas:

     
  • Create content that answers common first-step questions clearly
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  • Use language that reduces stigma and fear
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  • Design websites or apps that help users quickly identify next steps (e.g., “Do I need urgent care or a specialist?”)
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  • Provide real patient stories to build emotional connection and trust

All of these actions come from understanding not just what people do, but what they're trying to achieve – the hallmark of Jobs to Be Done in healthcare marketing. And by investing in this deeper layer of empathy, healthcare brands can turn hesitant potential patients into confident, empowered ones, before the first contact is ever made.

Using Jobs to Be Done to Reveal Patient Motivations

Understanding the Real Drivers Behind Patient Decisions

Before a patient ever picks up the phone or clicks to schedule an appointment, they are already trying to solve something. Whether it's Googling symptoms, asking a friend for advice, or researching nearby providers, these early-stage behaviors reflect deeper motivations. The Jobs to Be Done framework helps uncover these motivations – not by focusing on demographics or surface-level behavior, but on what progress the patient is trying to make in their life.

Instead of asking, "Who is the patient?" Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) reframes the question as, "What is the patient trying to achieve right now?" This might include:

  • Reassurance that their symptoms aren’t serious
  • Control over a growing health concern
  • Guidance to navigate a confusing healthcare system
  • Validation that it's the right time to seek care

These jobs are often emotional or situational, influenced by context such as past experiences, time constraints, financial concerns, or mistrust in providers. Recognizing the job the patient is hiring a solution to do – even if that “solution” is a trusted online article or a wellness app – allows brands to better anticipate and support their needs.

Jobs to Be Done in Healthcare: A Practical Lens

For example, if a patient is researching headaches, the job might not be “find a neurologist.” It might be, “Understand if this is something I can treat myself or not.” If a website or service helps them accomplish that job – with credible content and low-pressure triage – they’re more likely to stick with that brand for follow-up care. This is how JTBD unlocks insight into why patients delay seeking care or prefer self-navigation before involving a professional.

By focusing on what patients are trying to get done before they seek formal care, JTBD complements other healthcare insights and helps marketers and providers position themselves earlier in the decision-making journey – in the spaces where patients are quietly working through uncertainty and options.

How Market Research Improves Patient Experience and Engagement

Closing the Gap Between Patient Needs and Healthcare Touchpoints

Once we understand the jobs patients are trying to fulfill, the next step is turning those insights into smarter experiences. Through specialized healthcare market research – such as in-depth interviews, online communities, and journey mapping – organizations gain a clearer picture of how patients behave and feel in the pre-care phase.

Without research, it's easy to make assumptions. For example, many assume patients value fast appointment booking above all. But patient behavior often reveals other unmet needs, like:

  • Clear communication about whether a symptom is “worth a visit”
  • Stories or reviews from similar patients
  • Ease of navigating insurance or cost transparency
  • Timely reassurance during periods of uncertainty

Consumer research goes beneath functional steps to explore emotional expectations too – trust, empathy, empowerment – all of which influence patient engagement and loyalty.

The Power of Research to Reduce Friction

Great healthcare insights don't just live in reports. They inform practical decisions across service design, digital experiences, and messaging. The more healthcare brands center their experience strategies on actual patient decision making – not just assumed paths – the more aligned and supportive their touchpoints become.

For instance, a patient considering urgent care might be asking: “Will this be worth the cost?” or “Will they take my concerns seriously?” Patient research ensures these hidden questions get answered clearly and compassionately before the call is even made.

The result? Better alignment between patient expectations and brand promises. This creates a more seamless journey and builds long-term trust – especially for populations that are wary of the healthcare system or who delay care due to past friction.

Applying Insights: Examples from the Healthcare Industry

Turning Insight into Impact: Fictional Case Applications

The strength of Jobs to Be Done and patient research shines brightest when applied to real-world challenges. While every organization is different, the following fictional examples illustrate how healthcare companies can activate these insights to improve their offerings and outreach.

1. Designing a Virtual Triage Tool Based on Starting Jobs

A primary care network observed that many patients delayed appointments, only to visit urgent care later. Research uncovered a common job: “Figure out if I need professional care or not.” The network used this insight to design a symptom checker tool paired with nurse chat options. This reduced unnecessary ER visits and reassured patients earlier in their decision path.

2. Messaging Reframed Around Emotional Jobs

A children’s hospital found that millennial parents weren't responding to traditional safety-first messaging about vaccinations. JTBD interviews revealed a different parental job: “Protect my child from judgment or criticism of bad choices.” The hospital adjusted its messaging to offer supportive, stigma-free information that helped parents feel informed without fear. Appointments increased and feedback improved.

3. Journey Mapping that Unlocked Pain Points

A health insurer wanted to improve digital engagement with young adults. Research into patient behavior in healthcare showed that users were overwhelmed navigating costs and provider networks. By updating onboarding flows and clarifying plan options related to specific health jobs (like “Prevent expensive dental problems” or “Access mental health support right away”), satisfaction rose and site bounce rates dropped significantly.

These examples highlight how aligning with real patient jobs – across moments, messages, and services – helps brands stand apart not by doing more, but by fitting more naturally into what patients already hope to do.

Summary

Understanding what patients are trying to achieve before contacting a provider is essential for creating care experiences that feel intuitive, trustworthy, and patient-centered. From the early stages of symptom research to the decision to engage – often delayed by emotional or informational friction – the pre-care journey holds a wealth of untapped insight.

By using the Jobs to Be Done framework, healthcare organizations can get closer to a patient’s true motivations, not just their actions. When paired with the right healthcare research, these insights lead directly to more compelling messaging, reduced barriers to care, and improved patient engagement.

Whether you're aiming to improve patient experience pre-care, refine healthcare journey mapping, or enhance digital tools and outreach, the key is to listen deeply and design with purpose.

Summary

Understanding what patients are trying to achieve before contacting a provider is essential for creating care experiences that feel intuitive, trustworthy, and patient-centered. From the early stages of symptom research to the decision to engage – often delayed by emotional or informational friction – the pre-care journey holds a wealth of untapped insight.

By using the Jobs to Be Done framework, healthcare organizations can get closer to a patient’s true motivations, not just their actions. When paired with the right healthcare research, these insights lead directly to more compelling messaging, reduced barriers to care, and improved patient engagement.

Whether you're aiming to improve patient experience pre-care, refine healthcare journey mapping, or enhance digital tools and outreach, the key is to listen deeply and design with purpose.

In this article

What Do Patients Do Before They Contact a Healthcare Provider?
Understanding the Pre-Care Journey: Research, Anxiety, and Delays
Using Jobs to Be Done to Reveal Patient Motivations
How Market Research Improves Patient Experience and Engagement
Applying Insights: Examples from the Healthcare Industry

In this article

What Do Patients Do Before They Contact a Healthcare Provider?
Understanding the Pre-Care Journey: Research, Anxiety, and Delays
Using Jobs to Be Done to Reveal Patient Motivations
How Market Research Improves Patient Experience and Engagement
Applying Insights: Examples from the Healthcare Industry

Last updated: Jun 04, 2025

Curious how patient-driven insights can improve your healthcare brand?

Curious how patient-driven insights can improve your healthcare brand?

Curious how patient-driven insights can improve your healthcare brand?

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