SEctor: health
Date: 2021
Role: UX designer
App DEsign
In early 2020 first cases of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak appeared forcing lock-downs and restrictions among populations, businesses and services. This included the temporary shutdown of ambulatory consultation in some health institutions like hospitals and private clinics around the world.
The main problem that DOC-CALL app is solving is the continuation of patient-doctor ambulatory consultations in a safe way. This idea was needed due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak when transportation and public places where temporary closed, but it will also benefit populations that live in remote areas that still need doctor’s assistance or even accessing to specialists geographically located far away from each other.
1. Identify and interview the target audience to find out how ready is this population to transition from a traditional doctor’s visit to a virtual consultation.
2. Identify how ready are health institutions and doctors to adopt a virtual system to continue medical practices.
3. Identify how will this app impact overall health of communities.
Demographic characteristics include: 25 - 75 years old, male and females, that have a smartphone and somehow familiar with the technology and that are likely to have used video calls and on-line payments.
The target user groups for DOC-CALL are:
— The users (patient) that want to continue their doctor usual visits.
— The users (patient) that are fragile and/or afraid to get sick if they go to the health institution.
— The user (patient) that wants to safe time by having a remote appointment.
DOC-CALL is a mobile application that helps connect patients with doctors of health institutions. With this app, patients can have a visit to their doctors from the comfort of their home. DOC-CALL app helps the patient schedule an appointment, pay for it, and connect via video-call with a health care professional. This app will help health institutions continue services during unexpected circumstances like pandemics, potentially expand clientele, keeping their patients safe at home and doctors in health institutions active making revenue.
01Needs Finding Study For this study there are 2 high level goals:
— Identify and interview the targeted market to find out how ready is this population to transition from a traditional doctor’s visit to a virtual doctor’s consultation.
— How will this app impact overall health of communities?
02 InterviewsUsing an interview protocol, the 5 recruited participants interviewed had an smartphone and Internet access, also they were somehow experienced with a smartphone technology, with following general characteristics:
Demographics:
— 25-75 years old
— With a sort of health condition
— With a frequency of doctor’s visitations 1-6 visits per year
03ObservationsThe participants were video recorded on an informal unmoderated interview using the free trial of “Camstasia” screen recorder for the purpose of observation and data extraction.
04User TestThe design of this user test started with a micro version and through the process of iteration it developed into a more robust version. Some components of the usability tests include: specific test goals, recruiting and diversity criteria, tasks, pre-test questionnaire and SUS as post-test questionnaire.
05 AnalysisA competitive analysis was performed to find best practices and opportunities for differentiation. The analysis of the interviews and usability tests helped defined target users better, their needs, current practices, motivators, constrains, giving a perspective of function requirements and constrains for the system.
02 Sketching Story BoardsBrainstorming of story boards through sketching to understand further how the system could work in different circumstances.
03Wireframes (lo-fi)This is the initial set of graphics for the system, DOC-CALL mobile app that reflect the main functional requirements.
04Med-Fi PrototypeThis set of graphics reflect changes and additions to the system after initial testing, also shows some color and typography.
05Interactive PrototypeAfter making the fixes identified by an heuristic evaluation, more screens and interactions are added to cover the basic tasks that users would need to accomplish with system.
I have interviewed friends and some family members of both genders that have comprehensive knowledge on the uses and features of a smartphone. Also, this participants had a doctor’s appointment at least once in the past year, their ages ranged from 25 to 71 years old. I believed that having a wide range of ages gave me an insight of their user needs , current practices and how different types of users will potentially experience the mobile application.
I’ve learned during the interaction with the 5 participants that 2 of them (older of the user group - ages 68 and 71) have less familiarity with the use and features of an smartphone. They took longer to identify buttons, read and take action. I perceived that they take a little more of time to make sure the action they are taking in the mobile interface is correct.
Most of the participants expressed that there is a significant time, between 1-1.5 hours that they spend in transportation and waiting before the actual traditional (in-situ) doctor’s consultation happens, they expressed curiosity on how their time could be used more effectively used.
On regards of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak:This was a topic that continuously showed up and that is directly related to health and the current circumstances that we are living in.
Here are some participants quotes that I found important to mention:
“I prefer to not go into the hospital for now” - P01
“I need to do something about my thyroid, I’m due for my bimonthly checkup but the hospital and my doctor have restricted checkups due to COVID” - P02
“I have terrible toothache, my dentist is not taking patients at the moment because of COVID”- P03
“I don’t even want to get out of the house because of the pandemic I don’t want to see anybody”- P05
“The Patient” user needs:Many participants on this user group have been affected somehow by the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak, they expressed that due to the restrictions and closure of some services in health institutions they missed doctor’s checkups and other needed a change of prescriptions. They expressed a big concern about the risk of going into the health institutions due to the spread of the virus specifically on those locations.Some older participants of this user group also shared that they need to get provided with transportation, either public or the help of a family member.
Need to continue ongoing checkups/appointments as frequently as recommended.Need to continue getting or changing their prescriptions.Need to feel safe.Need to have an easier way of communication with their doctors in case of unexpected circumstances.
Current Practices:About 70% of the participants on this user group shared that they missed or/and postponed their ongoing checkups due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak, the other 20% expressed that they went into their doctor’s appointment at the health institutions, the other 10% of participants had some type of video call (remote consultation) with a physician.
To summarize the interviews, here is what’s important to gather from the sessions: There is a need for patients and doctors to continue their relationship/consultations even in unexpected circumstances.There is a need for patients to feel safe and assured that they can continue their health treatments.
These are important considerations will be fundamental to identify some “Design Goals”.
1. The users (patient) that want to continue their doctor usual visits.
2. The users (patient) that are fragile and/or afraid to get sick if they go to the health institution.
3. The users (patient) that wants to safe time by having a remote appointment.
4. The users (doctor) that want to continue their practice and maybe increase their hours and income.
1. Video call interfaceAt an arrange time the doctor and patient will login and have a consultation via video call in their mobiles.
2. Appointment's CalendarSearch for available times with the doctor the user prefers or look for a condition and find a specialist.
3. Secured PaymentPay for their appointment securely and reserve time with the health specialist.
4. GPS map Users can order their doctor’s prescriptions from a pharmacy pay and get them delivered.
The goal of this usability test is to answer the questions:
1. Can smartphones users, use the mobile app DOC-CALL, to have doctor’s consultations or checkups remotely through video calls?
2. What problems do users encounter when trying to use the app DOC-CALL to schedule a doctor’s appointment, finding a doctor or health condition, ordering prescriptions and pay from their mobile phones?
The recruited participants were from different geographic locations. Some demographic characteristics include ages 25-71 years old. In this user population all participants had a smartphone with Internet access, with a basic knowledge of uses and features of a smartphone and also a frequency of doctor’s visitations at least once in the past year.
I conducted 2 usability tests, the user population for both tests were 2 different samples. In the first usability test, I used the low-fi prototype for this initial test. In the second usability test I provided the participants with a new med-fi prototype which had some changes after the first user test findings.
The participants were asked to “Think-aloud” this enable me to take notes. These notes and the thorough reviewing of the recordings was fundamental in my analysis of data.
1. Have you used a telehealth mobile application or website before for doctor’s consultations or checkups?
2. Tell me about the last doctor’s appointment you had .
— How do you usually schedule the appointment?
— What is your primary form of transportation to get to the doctor’s appointment?
— What is your primary concern?What is your form of payment?
3. If the doctor has a prescription for you, tell me about how do you get it?
4. How often do you have doctor’s consultations or checkups?
Post-test questionnaire (SUS) System Usability Scale for more information go to:https://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/system-usability-scale.html
Interview Topics: Telehealth, Virtual Doctor’s Consultations, COVID-19, Preventative Health.
Finding #1
Severity 2Minor Usability Problem.
The older sample of the user population that participated in the final user test expressed that they have difficulty reading some text, the text is too little in some buttons and the color used for some text does not make enough contrast with the background.
the problem
This issue violates the following Neilsen’s Heuristics for User Interface Design: #10 Help and Documentation — Looking for help should be clear and easy.
Recommendation
Review the interface, increase size and change the color of the fonts where is necessary.
Location
The lack of readability of text was found throughout the prototype.
Finding #2
Severity 2Minor Usability Problem.
Some participants got distracted by secondary call to action that appears on the bottom of some screens, during the final test some participants differ their attention from the task they had to perform to read and push into information of these secondary call to actions that in many cases showed up as pop ups.
the problem
This issue violates the following Neilsen’s Heuristics for User Interface Design: #8 Aesthetic and minimalist design — Every extra unit of information in an interface competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility.
Recommendation
Review the interface, prioritize the information that is really important for the user to perform certain tasks and remove secondary call to actions moving the information to a different section of the system.
Location
Bottom of some screens under buttons
Finding #3
Severity —1
Cosmetic problem
A couple of participants expressed that the color “navy” used in some screens was too dark. The white letters against the dark navy background was hard to read.
the problem
This issue violates the following Neilsen’s Heuristics for User Interface Design: #8 Aesthetic and minimalist design — This heuristic doesn't mean you have to use a flat design, it's about making sure you're keeping the content and visual design focused on the essentials. Ensure that the visual elements of the interface support the user's primary goals.
Recommendation
Location
sign up SCREEN and BUTTONS
DOC-CALL app has a strong intention to help as many people as possible, both patients (with health concerns) and doctors (by creating and maintaining job stability) for this reason approaching to health institutions to adopt an promote this application among their doctors and patients would be imperative to scale and the success of this project.
