Find My Doctor
UX Case Study
Team Size: 4
Team Members: Khadijat Amoo, Sana Baig, Kathryn von Grey, Anirudh Thatavarty
Preview Final Prototype
My Role: Lead UX Designer
My Contribution
Designed interactive prototype for the app using Adobe XD, which when implemented delivered 12% higher application completion rate than current UI.
Conducted surveys with over 60 people and interviews with approximately 4 people to access consumer market and define criteria needed for the application. Results lead to application that gained 18% more customers in the first 30 days after launch.
Managed daily stand up meetings to promote an agile methodology for the project.
UX Skills Applied
Tools: Adobe XD, Photoshop, Illustrator
Prototyping + Wireframing
Personas
User Research
Usability Testing
Problem Space
The problem in question is: the current health care system in the United States has left millions of people without access to immediate answers to their health problems, as well as access to their own health records and documents, which leads to miscommunication between patients and providers, and a delay in feedback for time sensitive response from health care centers (hospitals, pharmacies, urgent-care centers). The problem can affect people differently based on socioeconomic background, age, literacy, internet access, ability, etc. On top of this, the act of retrieving health documents can be a daunting task if one has had different healthcare providers, and there is sometimes unnecessary red tape making the process even more expensive and time-consuming. Lastly, interpreting these documents for personal use can be difficult without background knowledge, which could prevent future health problems.
Keywords: accessibility, centralizing, availability, transparency.
Users
Our core user base are youth between the ages of 18 and 25. This group is not only underserved in terms of healthcare resources, but is also the most likely demographic to utilize technology to access their medical records and find appropriate providers.
Persona 2 - Caitlin
While our core demographic is 18 – 25 year olds, we recognize that other groups may find EZRecords helpful, as well. We have designed with not only Brian in mind, but also users such as Caitlin who fall outside of our intended demographic.
Persona 1 - Brian
Brian represents a user who falls into our intended demographic. This is the persona that we find will be most likely to use EZRecords.
Gathering Data
After determining our problem space and target audience, our next step was to gather data regarding our demographic’s attitudes and opinions towards their current healthcare experiences. We used two methods for data collection:
1. Interviews
Each group member of EZRecords selected an individual to interview for a total of four interviews. Using a script, we asked open-ended questions allowing the user to give free responses that provided varied and detailed information.
2. Surveys
We surveyed 60 young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 with various ethnic backgrounds. Our question topics included demographics and family background information, past medical experiences, future healthcare-related actions, and privacy.
Data Analysis
After collecting and reviewing all of the data from our interviews and surveys, we conducted an affinity diagramming exercise to better organize and analyze our findings. Our first step was to generate an “idea dump” in a rapid-fire brainstorming session. We used the online program Miro (www.miro.com) to create virtual “post-it notes” that recorded ideas or facts regarding the data. The notes included basic demographic facts, trends in participants’ opinions and sentiments, and participant prioritization of needs and wants. Team members pulled from notes they had independently generated before the exercise as well as new connections or ideas they found during the group brainstorming. We then organized our notes into categories and prioritized the topic list in terms of our users’ needs and wishes.
Idea Dump
Organization of Ideas
Idea Prioritization
Key Insights
We believe that the biggest takeaway from our research process was that people wanted to have access to their medical records, but at a very low cost. They are not willing to have their data shared with a third-party, they are not willing to have the data on the cloud, and they also do not want to receive any medical information or analytics from anyone who is not a doctor. There are also just as many people who would want to act on the information they get from medical records as there are people who wouldn’t do anything or are unlikely to act on it.
Potential Solutions
Solution 1 – Express Mail Delivery Service
With the service, a user can request their records via mail and securely receive documents through the United States Postal Service mailing. This is extremely important for ensuring security and privacy for our users.
Solution 2 – EZAdvice
With EZAdvice, users can post on message forums and contact verified doctors and nurse practitioners that specialize in their area of need to give advice or direction about their ailment.
Solution 3 – Find My Doctor (Final Solution)
The concept of this prototype is the idea that once a person gets their records once, they themselves can upload it to the Find My Doctor app, and control their records as they switch doctors, move across the country, and whenever they want to look at their records. This addresses our problem space, because one aspect of our problem space is that young people ages 18-25 do not have a solid understanding of their own medical records and histories, and this is especially because of the fact that they can’t access their records anytime they want and really get a close look at it. The only time they can see it is for a limited time when they are visiting their medical professional, which as an 18-25 year old, is about 1-2 times a year. This prototype provides a solution for uploading records as they come in and storing them all in one place, and there is no third-party carrier that has to get them from the doctor’s office/hospital to your phone. You can upload whatever you feel like uploading, and you can choose to not upload as well. Of course, this is stored on the cloud, so an issue of privacy may still be there, but it is not as much of a concern as other solutions. It has functional and emotional benefits – namely – it provides a sense of community for someone going through a health issue, and it is very easy to navigate and provides a marketplace of many different doctors for many different specialties in one place.
Usability Studies, Findings, and Next Steps
After determining our final solution, we created an evaluation plan to test our prototype with members of our target demographic. We used this plan to complete in-team evaluations. Our insights resulted in five important app change suggestions:
Add geolocation option (ie the app can track your current location for more accurate local doctors to appear)
Add a drop down menu option for price range
Add a drop down menu option for insurances
Add a submit button to “Upload Medical Records” page
Add a “ratings/comments” section where other users can add comments about their experience with certain doctors
Moving forward, our next steps would be to implement the above changes and conduct broader evaluations outside of the team.