Roles.
- Visual Design and Branding
- Prototyping
- Usability Testing
- User Research
- UX Design
Tools.
- Figma
- Google Suite
- Notion
- Adobe Suite
- Maze User Testing
Team.
- Polly Lee - Mentor
- Thinkful Cohort 5
Can we make it easier to check into the ER and limit the time patients wait?
The Solution.
The solution was a mobile app focused on saving users time and stress in finding a hospital in the event of a non-life-threatening injury. Through research and development, the resolution focused on the following:
Communication
Allowing users to chat with someone at the hospital.
Information
Giving users detailed information and wait times for nearby hospitals.
Time Saving
Avoiding the waiting room through online check-in
Discover.
Starting on this journey, I knew my own experiences with going to the emergency room. Still, I needed much more information on others' experiences, how the healthcare industry worked and how others might have already solved this problem. So, trying to understand patient's pain points and motivations, I crafting a user survey that could be sent out to many people and get an initial amount of quantitive data. The survey also allows me to see patterns in users' types and helps me find people for more in-depth studies.
Survey Results
When I started getting results back, I began to worry as the information pointed to some bits that I didn't expect. On initial results, I got many answers that made it seem like people almost always knew where they were going to go, and they didn't care that there would be a wait. Feeling like waiting was simply to be expected, and there was nothing to change that.
Know what hospital you would go to in an emergency?
When looking at this it looked like most people alreay know what hospital they would choose and do they really need a app to help them?
What is important In choose a hospital?
Not all reasons to chose a hospital are the same and certain things like insurance and location have more precedent.
Deeper insights
From there, I knew I needed to get a deeper understanding of how people felt about the process of checking into the ER. I have always found the best way to have people tell you their stories. From my research, I found several people who wanted to tell their story and their ER experience. From there, it helped me pinpoint some main themes I was seeing.
User currently know what hospital they would probably go to due to a previous experience or because it is the closest.
Users expect a long wait for the hospital but not knowing where in the process you are is worse.
Users want information on their condition. If they can get care before they go in to save a trip then they would.
Competitive Analysis
The next step was to review, what, if anything, was already on the market. After a little research, there was no equivalent app currently on the market that I could find. Instead, after seeing a few apps that served parts of what I wanted to accomplish, I analyzed what they did well.
Review Apps
These apps are good for getting a high level overview of the Hospital or Urgent Care however are not Hospitality focused so are missing key information.
Insurance Apps
If you insurance has their own application you can see what their insurance covers at the hospitals but comparing between hospitals is hard and feels unbiased.
Hospital Apps
Great apps when people know what hospitals they are going to. Allows users to get online care and essential information about the hospital quickly but can't see other hospitals .
Personas
The final step of the phase was to collect all the data and craft "users" in personas to make sure they were forefront in the design process throughout.
Define.
After figuring out who the users were and their pain points. I was ready to dive into figuring out the solution. But, first, I needed to look back at my original problem and make sure I was still going in the right direction. To help make this happen, I created many users' stories to put me into the user's shoes. These user stories would allow me to help decide what needs to be included and decided what the minimum viable product would be. I could then take these and worked out my initial thoughts on user flows and a site map.
Reframing the Question
How do we increase care communication and information for ER patients?
User Stories
As a user, I would like to find more information and compare hospitals, so I can make an informed decision on which hospital I choose to go to.
As a user, I would like to "Check-in" to the hospital before leaving, so I don't have to wait so long.
As a user, I would like to contact the hospital by chat and video to get information on how severe the condition is.
As a user, I need to know what hospitals carry my insurance so I don't spend more money out of pocket.
As a user with an Injury, I would like to know where I can get the quickest treatment.
As a user I need to block hospitals that I don't like so it doesn't give me those options when I need a hospital fast.
As a user I would like to know what services my insurance covers at the hospital and what it doesn't
As a user I need to block hospitals that I don't like so it doesn't give me those options when I need a hospital fast.
User Flows.
Wireframes.
In laying out the wireframes, My focus was to create easy, readable information with a direct and clean UI. I used oversized font and large spacing between forms and buttons to increase visibility and ease-of-use during an emergency.
Develop.
After getting the app's framework to a good point, making sure my MVP features met my core objectives, it was time to work on the UI and the branding.
For this app, I wanted to turn to a color palette that was modern and clean. By turning to "Scrub" colors as the primary and secondary colors while keeping the background predominantly white, it increased the "medical feel" while also giving the app a calming aspect.
Style Tile.
Color palette.
White
#F8F9FA
Black
#212528
Green
#6EEBBA
Light Green
#C1FCD3
Dark Green
#0CCDA3
Purple
#8B88F7
Purple
#8B88F7
Light Purple
#BFB8FF
Logo Design.
I also played around with commonly used medical symbols with a hexagonal and a plus shape for the logo. Finally, I decided to use the Heart Rate meter or ECG symbol to create a checkmark, which connected the logo back to the app's use and its Check-In feature.
Mid-Fidelity Mockups
After I started adding the UI to the screens to make it more cohesive and flow better for user testing. Using Figma to create mockups so I could get direct user feedback.
Accessibility.
While developing mockups, I wanted to make sure that the UI was accessible and easy-to-use for individuals with every type of condition possible. With this concept in mind, I tried to include ideas that would make it easier and more usable for every conceivable use.
Oversized forms and buttons with 40pt font height.
Quick Language input and a Call 911 button that is quick to access.
Multiple ways to communicate with the app.
Deliver.
Testing.
Using Maze, an online Usability Testing tool, I developed a script that walked users through my three primary user flows. With this initial user test, my goals were the following: to determine where the points in the flow, people were were having the most trouble, to A/B test two flows and to determine location of "symptom Input", and finally see any User Interfaces inconistancies that were overlooked.
Insights.
I can't read that!
Recall that I said I wanted to make sure accessibility was a key focus. It wasn't. While I had initially checked the WCGA values, there were a couple of buttons and text areas where I had deviated from and forgotten about the standards. Testing pointed it out, and I went through to make sure everything was up to AAA standards.
Too many clicks!
I updated the form inputs so that the app takes you to the next screen when an input option is chosen rather than continuing with an additional button.
Lost symptom location?
Finally, testing solved the issue I was having about where the symptom input should go. About 30% of users said the symptom input should go "in the beginning," 30% said it should go "after check-in," and 40% said both. Logically thinking about it, I decided there should be touchpoints to edit your symptoms throughout the app experience, with dedicated inputs both at start-up and final check-in.
Final Iterations and Mockups.
Find Hospitals Nearby.
Log into your profile where your medical and information is stored. In addition, the app will offer nearby locations information such as accepting your insurance, current wait time, and patient ratings. Select a hospital to see more information about it to make sure it is the right choice.
Talk to Someone.
After a quick search for the hospital you want, you can chat or video call a nurse to see the severity of your condition and determine what your next steps are.
Check In.
After finding your chosen hospital, let them know you are on your way with a simple click. The app will send your medical information to their system and check you into the waiting room. The app will keep you up to date with the expected wait time and where you are along the way along the process.
Conclusion.
After making some last revisions, I created a final prototype. This stage can always use more tweaks and testing to develop the app further, but I was pleased with its overall outcome. Focusing on the main user flow rather than the comprehensive app, I ensured the flow's usability was functional and pleasing before moving on to other aspects. This helped center my design into more distinct ideas.
Next Steps
This was just a start and there were
Off to Work
A hospital-facing interface that my app would connect with.
Go where they need.
Continue focusing on some additional essential features for future iterations, like setting up user medical profiles.
Address connections to hospital booking systems and
What I learned.
Throughout the process, I was continually stressing that I was making a hospital version of Yelp. However, once the process was over, the result ended up being better than expected. With some additional functionality, like the hospital interface, the app could be pretty unique.
I initially struggled when I started looking into research and got my first survey back. I should abandon the project at the time, but sitting down and interviewing some of the survey participants really helped. In the future, it will be vital for me to remember the real value of interviews. Surveys are useful and help get as much data as possible, but some of the best data come from sitting down with someone so they can tell you their story.