Overview
I led a 12 week redesign sprint @ FirstHx. The product is a mobile-first digital intake which prompts patients to share their medical history for their clinician to review, prior to their appointment. This leads to improved quality of care and a time efficient patient-clinician interaction. Since the company was in the midst of an update, UX/UI intervention was beneficial.
My Contributions
My goal was to identify the pain points with the current product and recommend solutions to address them. I designed an onboarding experience, a progress tracker and redesigned the user interface to reduce interaction costs.
Timeline
Septemeber - December 2022 (12 weeks)
My Role
Sole UX/UI Design Intern @ FirstHx
Tools
Figma
my redesign recommendations
emphasizing easy access to information, giving users feedback, highlighting the company's identity and reducing interaction costs
Onboarding Experience
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Highlighting the context in which this intake should not be filled i.e. in a state of emergency.
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Educating users what they are expected to do, why they should and who has access to their information.
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Removes any scope of confusion that first time users might have.
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Information is presented in a digestible format which can be consumed at a glance.
Progress Tracker
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Provides users feedback about their status in the intake.
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Reduces uncertainty about the length of the intake and the amount of time they need to set aside to fill it out.
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Increases engagement and motivation to complete the intake as the user can see the end goal.
incomplete
in-progress
completed
User Interface Redesign
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Emphasizing the company’s identity by utilizing the style guide.
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Using inputs that users are familiar with.
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Optimizing the screen space by accommodating similar questions together, thus reducing the length of the intake.
usability tests and patient interviews
participants felt a sense of satisfaction as they had taken one step closer to receiving care. However, pressing pain points were identified which had been overlooked.
I conducted usability tests with participants in a controlled setting to learn and analyze details of the user's journey. To compliment the raw insights I received from the think-out-loud protocol I asked them questions specific to their experience with the intake.
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How would you describe your overall experience with the product?
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Are there any specific aspects of the intake that brought about positive or negative emotions?
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Were you able to provide all the information you wanted to give about your medical history?
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How did you feel after completing the intake?
Conducting patient interviews (recruited from a clinic in Toronto) who had interacted with the product in a real world setting, allowed me to ask questions (over and above the ones mentioned before) about their experience beyond the intake i.e. the product's impact in the overall process of receiving care.
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What according to you is the purpose of filling out the intake? And did you feel like the goal was met when you went to meet the physician?
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What is your state of mind like when you are filling out these intakes?
affinity mapping
Conducting usability tests with first time users and interviews with patients who had interacted with the product a few times, I received a range of insights to consider.
USER FEEDBACK
"I wonder how long this is?"
Users were unable to gauge the progress they had made. This made the task feel daunting as there was no indication of the length or approximate duration of the intake.
How might we give users feedback about their status?
USER CONTROL
“It would be great to have something where I can add all my symptoms at once.”
Users with more than one symptom found the intake to be unpredictable. They could start the intake with only one symptom and had to hope that the following questions would cover their remaining symptoms.
How might we give users control over the manner in which they provide their information?
USER FAMILIARITY
EASY ACCESS TO INFORMATION
"Where is my information going? What are the next steps?"
Users were not attentive to the block of text describing the details of this intake. As a result the information provided was not retained, leaving the user confused at the end of the intake.
How might we increase users’ access to important information?
“I just want to make sure I haven't missed anything”
Users would like to review their responses before submitting the intake to make sure the information they have provided is accurate. Absence of a summary screen leaves them with a sense of uncertainty.
How might we give users control to edit their responses easily?
“Oh I've never seen such an input before. Seems very Meta!”
Users were thrown off when they saw an unfamiliar age input. Further, it was very finicky which frustrated them.
How might we use inputs, users are familiar with to reduce interaction costs?
identifying the company's priorities
adapting my recommendations based on the company's position with respect to making changes
Through my discussions with the team, we noticed the need to sift out priority pain points which could be implemented in the stipulated time period. We identified the themes of user feedback, easy access to information and user familiarity as the most urgent. The pain point related to user control would require a more in depth analysis as it suggests restructuring the fundamental architecture of the product, which the company was not ready to take on at the moment.
design iterations and testing
"don't over complicate it, when the same idea can be communicated more easily"
onboarding experience
Giving users easy access to information through a structured onboarding experience would decrease the probability of any confusion and inaccuracies, thus increasing clarity and trust.
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I broke down the current onboarding screen which users did not interact with due to its' unapproachable nature, into four important pieces of information to be presented in order of importance.
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4
3
1
What is this intake
Who will have access to my information
Why should I fill it out
When should I not fill it
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Originally I presented the information in a series of modals.
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I received feedback about how the information still felt inaccessible.
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I decided to utilize the whole screen, added a graphic to support the headline and to lighten up the screen, made the headline self explanatory and simplified the blurb.
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Originally I presented the information stating 'when the intake shouldn't be used' similar to the other three onboarding screens.
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Through user testing, I realized that this piece of information is more like a warning and called for immediate action.
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Thus, I presented it as a notification that will grab the user's attention and which they are compelled to interact with to proceed.
progress tracker
Giving users feedback about their status in the intake, the progress they have made and insight into how much is left. This keeps the user informed and motivated to complete the intake, removing any scope of frustration.
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Since the intake is based on nested logic, making the number of questions presented to each user different based on their responses, a live progress tracker was a challenge.
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Thus I conducted a card sorting activity in order to divide the 9 types of questions into categories - personal information, reason for visit, general information and social history.
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The progress tracker thus designed would give users feedback about their progress with respect to these categories i.e. 1/4, 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4.
personal information
age
91%
biological sex
88%
reason for visit
symptoms
84%
qualities of symptoms
75%
social history
general medical history
other ailments
91%
medication
84%
alcohol consumption
44%
drug consumption
50%
smoking
41%
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Originally I designed progress modals and then screens that would appear before each category.
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I realized that the screens were not providing any extra information, which a progress pattern wasn't. Further it was bringing the users attention to the length of the intake.
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Thus, I designed a simple progress pattern placed on the top right corner of the screen which didn't necessarily grab attention, but was there for users to refer to.
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Iterating with different progress patterns.
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I decided to stick with a progress loop as there are a number of circular elements within the company's style guide, including their logo. Further, it sits well in line with the headline.
user interface redesign
Adhering to inputs that users of the internet are familiar with will reduce mental interaction costs allowing the experience to flow more smoothly and efficiently. Upon having access to the company's style guide, I realized that there was immense potential to utilize it in order to design a more aesthetically pleasing interface which would aid in improving the users experience.
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The keypad age input made users pause. They took a few seconds to comprehend it. Further, the age of patients less than 1 would not be accurate as there was no month/day option.
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I iterated with a few familiar inputs like a DOB scroll which would calculate the age and text + drop down menu.
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Post feedback from my mentor, I decided to make both fields a text input with a prompt for the latter to maintain consistency in the inputs.
before
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after
final prototype
next steps
providing the team with a low-fi prototype of a design solution surrounding the theme of user control
Post delivering the above design solutions, the team asked me to give them a rough sketch of my iterations to solve the pain point around user control, which they would refer to, in the future. More in depth research, analysis and testing would be required to determine the effectiveness of these ideas.
Search engine
To prevent patients from having to decide what their 'main reason/symptom' is, giving users the ability to state all their symptoms at once will reduce the mental interaction cost. This will not only empower patients to provide information about all their concerns (small or big) which in turn will give them a sense of relief, but will also make the intake more predictable.
Summary
Forms, surveys and questionnaires allow users to review their responses before submitting. Checking the accuracy of the information they have provided regarding their health and their ability to change it, will give them a sense of comfort allowing the experience to end positively.
pitch deck here
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