Dexter has a doctor's appointment coming up. He decides to complete eCheck-In so he can save time at the clinic.
He reviewed his medications in eCheck-In, but the nurse still asks about his medication during the appointment.
Medications are a complex area and there were several factors to consider:
What will the medication review process be like for patients with long medication lists?
We are adding a lot more functionality to this page. How do we maintain ease and simplicity for our users?
Will patients review their medications thoroughly and accurately?
To address these questions and others, I led a UX Research process:
I interviewed doctors, pharmacists, and hospital stakeholders.
1.
I wrote a task-based usability test and made an interactive, high-fidelity mockup in Figma
2.
I went on-site to a hospital to run usability tests and present to a patient panel.
3.
I presented findings to the project team and recommended next steps.
4.
We leveraged these research findings to design the final product:
A streamlined layout
Simple cards allow patients to quickly scan the medications they have on file. Simplicity was key:
When information on the page is easy to read, a patient’s medication review is more accurate.
Patients are less likely to skip medication review when the process is made easy.
Patients who don’t have any changes simply need to click “Confirm.” We only introduce more complexity when a change needs to be made.
A separate section for medications with previous changes
If a patient previously reported that they’re not taking a medication, but it hasn’t been removed from their medication list by their provider, it will appear in a separate section at the bottom of the page.
If these medications were to appear in the main list, patients would think that their removal request had been forgotten or ignored. Putting those medications here avoids that problem.
Patients can also indicate if they begin taking the medication again.
What started out as a disjointed, duplicative process became a streamlined way for patients to communicate with their provider and save time at their appointments.
