Patients First
Designed a mobile digital intervention that provides patients the choice of a detailed doctor’s appointment and an express appointment.
Role
UX/UI Designer, UX Researcher
Tools
Figma
Timeline
3 weeks
Patients First
Background
Patients First is a government led initiative aimed at improving healthcare for patients. Their goal is to improve access to fast and reliable healthcare, connect patients to all available healthcare services, and support patients by providing them with the education, and knowledge they need to make decisions about their health. My task is to build an understanding of patient experiences to build a digital product that can further assist people regarding their healthcare services.
Decline of Trust in the U.S. Healthcare System
The Problem
The decline of trust in the United States healthcare system has led to a major decrease in visits to the doctor’s office. As stated in an article by the University of Utah, 60 to 80 percent of people who were surveyed have not been forthcoming with their doctors about information that could be relevant to their health. If patients are holding back from information from doctors, it can have severe implications on their health.
User Research
Interviewing students
In order to fully understand the patients and their problems, I conducted 4 interviews with patients. I made sure to ask them to recount their experiences at the doctor’s office. Due to the tight time-frame and busy schedules, I decided to conduct interviews over the phone. I made the decision to interview acquaintances of mine that also fit the requirements that I have set for this research.
Interviewee Requirements
Interviewees must be 20 to 40 years old
Interviewees must living in an urban area
Interviewees must have been to a doctor in the past 5 years
Key Insight
Patients are getting frustrated at the U.S. Healthcare System due to a frequent experience of having their issues downplayed or even disregarded. The cause of this stems from doctors not being able to provide the medical attention each individual needs.
How might we ensure that patients in urban cities like NYC are able to get the individualized medical attention they require to maintain good health?
User Persona
Defining our user
Utilizing the information gathered from my interviews, I created a persona that best represents the user. This persona helps greatly with identifying the typical user’s needs and desires.
Defining what the user wants
User Stories
When thinking of potential features for the product, I had to think about what the potential user would want. With the use of affinity mapping, I concluded that the majority of users want features that enable them to better connect with their doctor.
As a patient, I want to have in-person visits so that I know they are giving me their full attention.
As a patient, I want to have in-person visits so that they can easily examine me if needed.
As a patient, I want to choose to have a long appointment or an express appointment so that my doctor can better adhere to my needs.
As a patient, I want to be able to speak to my doctor in person so that the appointment feels more private and personal.
Defining what the user wants
Sketches & Wireframes
The user stories and persona were a crucial guide to my UI decisions. The features implemented were ones that are beneficial to my persona.
While referring back to my sketches, I utilized Figma to create grayscale wireframes so that I can better visualize the functionality of my app.
Usability Testing
Finding what’s not working
To ensure that my app was working as intended, I conducted a round of usability testing. After each round of testing, I iterated on the design with all of the feedback in mind. Some feedback that I considered:
While conducting my tests, I found out that the wording of my call-to-action buttons on the homepage can be confusing. When asked to complete a task, many participants would have a hard time finding out which button to click.
Another finding is the confusion regarding the cards in my Doctor Profile screen. Many people misunderstood the purpose of the cards and thought that they were buttons.
For many of my screens in the 3rd and 4th task, there were multiple times when the “Continue” button was made non-functional because other buttons would also have the same functionality.
Design Prioritization Matrix
Establishing Priorities for the Issues
An essential part of conducting usability tests is figuring out which problems have the biggest impact on a user’s experience. I utilized a design prioritization matrix to help organize the issues by effort required to fix and impact on usability. With this matrix, I am able to find out the most impactful change that also requires little effort to fix.
Implementing user feedback
Iterations
With the information gathered from my testing, I proceeded to iterate on my designs. The synthesized insights were applied to the UI elements that needed the most improvements.
There were several scenarios where the users were confused as to the purpose of the buttons on the homepage because the wording of them was very misleading. In order to improve the user experience, I had to reword the buttons to make sure that the text matches the purpose of the button.
It is important for a user’s experience that they aren’t surprised at something happening on the screen. During user testing, many users tried to press on these “Availability” cards expecting it to be a button. While keeping the same design, I gave the cards a purpose. When users click on the card, it opens a pop-up explaining the difference between the two appointments.
To ensure that the users are aware of when the flow moves forward, I chose to designate the “Continue” button as the indicator. When users complete the action required to move forward, the button would appear. Previously, the button would always be prevalent along with other buttons.
Patients First
Prototype
Within the short time period, I was able to design what I thought would be a possible solution to the decline of trust in U.S. healthcare. With more time, I would be able to fully flesh it out by adding color and adding the copy.
My goal with the Patients First app is to give users the option to choose between booking an express appointment or a detailed appointment. Detailed appointments allow users to reserve sufficient time to ensure that they can address all of their concerns with the doctor so that they can leave with confidence in their health.
Want to try the prototype? Click here!
What does success look like?
Impact Measuring
While the app is not close to being fully developed, we can assume that one way to measure success is by finding patient satisfaction. This attitudinal KPI can be measured very easily with a tool as simple as a survey. Comparing the patient satisfaction numbers of patients utilizing the app and those who aren’t can give a glimpse at whether or not the app is effective. Increased satisfaction numbers would indicate that the app is effective in providing more confidence about their visit to the physician’s office.
Areas for Improvement
Next Steps
Fully flesh out the product with color and copy.
Develop other core features such as saving and booking a previous doctor, and viewing upcoming appointments.
More rounds of usability testing to ensure that there are no usability issues within the app.