Measurecare health notes app
Measurecare health notes app
Research and designing a mobile app to aid in workflow management in local healthcare.
My Role
UX Designer
Year
2021
"What don't we know?"
"What don't we know?"
This project was a major effort in disambiguating ideas that MeasureCare had in regards to the usefulness of the product for their intended users. We don't understand why practitioners behave as they do nor do we know what issues they face in getting their jobs done. We don't know what software and programs they use, and why?
We realized early on that this project was going to not about a creating a product, but instead focus on thoughtful research to validate or disapprove MeasureCare's hypothesis.
This project was a major effort in disambiguating ideas that MeasureCare had in regards to the usefulness of the product for their intended users. We don't understand why practitioners behave as they do nor do we know what issues they face in getting their jobs done. We don't know what software and programs they use, and why?
We realized early on that this project was going to not about a creating a product, but instead focus on thoughtful research to validate or disapprove MeasureCare's hypothesis.
Key Insights
Key Insights
We were asked to create a task management product and our hopes were:
Defining Taxonomy: The term "task management" was understood very differently between the stakeholders vs. the doctors/nurses vs. the business administrators. We had to bridge the gap and create a unified language of what a "task" meant.
Information Architecture: A basic task management structure for our prototype that could be applied for general use case was priority in understanding how the product would test. We explored what made a "task manager" a useful tool.
Efficiency—Pen & Paper: As nice as an app could be, doctors and nurses were still relying on handwritten notes and verbal communication to communicate. This was a mix of habit, custom, intuitiveness, and accessibility.
"My Patients are my 'tasks'": Doctors and nurses spend most of the day tending to their patients, and secondary or tertiary to patients are items like CE, peer review, and scheduling conferences. They expressed those latter items were important, but not as important as patient care.
Self-sufficient mindsets: Most medical practitioners are very self organizing and don't always have time to just plan their day out.
“Our hypothesis: Healthcare workers need an efficient way to delegate, organize, and track tasks to improve workflow efficiency.”
We were asked to create a task management product and our hopes were:
Defining Taxonomy: The term "task management" was understood very differently between the stakeholders vs. the doctors/nurses vs. the business administrators. We had to bridge the gap and create a unified language of what a "task" meant.
Information Architecture: A basic task management structure for our prototype that could be applied for general use case was priority in understanding how the product would test. We explored what made a "task manager" a useful tool.
Efficiency—Pen & Paper: As nice as an app could be, doctors and nurses were still relying on handwritten notes and verbal communication to communicate. This was a mix of habit, custom, intuitiveness, and accessibility.
"My Patients are my 'tasks'": Doctors and nurses spend most of the day tending to their patients, and secondary or tertiary to patients are items like CE, peer review, and scheduling conferences. They expressed those latter items were important, but not as important as patient care.
Self-sufficient mindsets: Most medical practitioners are very self organizing and don't always have time to just plan their day out.
“Our hypothesis: Healthcare workers need an efficient way to delegate, organize, and track tasks to improve workflow efficiency.”
Business Value
Business Value
Disproved MeasureCare's hypothesis for a need for a basic receive/view-only task management system and
Our 3-week effort saved the company what could have been an expensive endeavor to put money and time towards development.
We provided key insights into user behavior and research yielded a broader scope for the product and provided a path forward to pivot the business moving forward, as well as suggestions for optimal competitive market placement.
Disproved MeasureCare's hypothesis for a need for a basic receive/view-only task management system and
Our 3-week effort saved the company what could have been an expensive endeavor to put money and time towards development.
We provided key insights into user behavior and research yielded a broader scope for the product and provided a path forward to pivot the business moving forward, as well as suggestions for optimal competitive market placement.
Pivots Made
Pivots Made
Our efforts proved the original hypothesis wrong — a task management system would not be useful to our users as it stands. Instead, we offered some ideas that MeasureCare could take to create a stronger product with consideration for some of these supplemental ideas:
Market Placement: Many apps do task management/planning or communication well, but not both. There is currently an open market space for this kind of product for healthcare.
Communication: Consider adding patient-based practitioner communication to streamline interactions. Many users stressed the need for quick and effective communication through a secure server.
Software Integration: In early iterations, try exploring integration with EMR tools with other software features and functions. This is a driving force for most of the practitioner's day—finding a way that they can access either all of their software in one "hub" or have a very robust "MeasureCare Suite" to utilize.
Task Manager 2.0+: Task management needs to be a part of the bigger product suite — it's a very small step towards workflow management and communication.
Our efforts proved the original hypothesis wrong — a task management system would not be useful to our users as it stands. Instead, we offered some ideas that MeasureCare could take to create a stronger product with consideration for some of these supplemental ideas:
Market Placement: Many apps do task management/planning or communication well, but not both. There is currently an open market space for this kind of product for healthcare.
Communication: Consider adding patient-based practitioner communication to streamline interactions. Many users stressed the need for quick and effective communication through a secure server.
Software Integration: In early iterations, try exploring integration with EMR tools with other software features and functions. This is a driving force for most of the practitioner's day—finding a way that they can access either all of their software in one "hub" or have a very robust "MeasureCare Suite" to utilize.
Task Manager 2.0+: Task management needs to be a part of the bigger product suite — it's a very small step towards workflow management and communication.
Takeaways and Findings
Takeaways and Findings
How we can effectively move towards the answer when when the facts are ambiguous.
Learning to ask the right question to obtain better qualitative and quantitative data.
Reset. Restart. Reverse. We know more than we did before, but every time we fail and fail often, we became more confident in the other pathways.
Common language and taxonomy is key for all parties: stakeholder, users, and UX team.
How we can effectively move towards the answer when when the facts are ambiguous.
Learning to ask the right question to obtain better qualitative and quantitative data.
Reset. Restart. Reverse. We know more than we did before, but every time we fail and fail often, we became more confident in the other pathways.
Common language and taxonomy is key for all parties: stakeholder, users, and UX team.
Week 1: Research
Week 1: Research
What we know
MeasureCare tasked us creating a task-management system specifically for mobile users, with a focus on the app being mostly a "read-only" use case for the efforts of this 3-week sprint. They asked us to integrate it with their existing mContacts app that allows healthcare practitioners to call or text each other in a secure, HIPAA compliant software.
"We want a task management to be the engine of all of [the user's work] efforts."
—MeasureCare, 2021
What we know
MeasureCare tasked us creating a task-management system specifically for mobile users, with a focus on the app being mostly a "read-only" use case for the efforts of this 3-week sprint. They asked us to integrate it with their existing mContacts app that allows healthcare practitioners to call or text each other in a secure, HIPAA compliant software.
"We want a task management to be the engine of all of [the user's work] efforts."
—MeasureCare, 2021
Constraints
This was a 3-week sprint to design, research, and synthesize. We decided to go with a Lean UX approach due to lack of existing task management system. We wanted to fail often and fail early in order to validate MeasureCare's hypothesis.
This was a mobile first approach where we focused our efforts on creating a baseline experience for the phone.
We new we would have limited access to targeted and qualified users as a major obstacle for healthcare workers because of their busy schedules. These were the users we were able to get access to:
Constraints
This was a 3-week sprint to design, research, and synthesize. We decided to go with a Lean UX approach due to lack of existing task management system. We wanted to fail often and fail early in order to validate MeasureCare's hypothesis.
This was a mobile first approach where we focused our efforts on creating a baseline experience for the phone.
We new we would have limited access to targeted and qualified users as a major obstacle for healthcare workers because of their busy schedules. These were the users we were able to get access to:
Execution
We initially started with an online survey to get a test for the market that MeasureCare was operating in. The company was operating under the assumption of what software their target users were using, but the results of this effort proved that the assumption was wrong. In fact, users did not use popular or any task management programs and focused strictly on ones geared directly towards healthcare, EHR/EMR, and lab status.
Here are some results from the survey.
We also created an initial affinity map to get understand trends within our smaller pool of users early on. Much of the data did not make any sense to use at this point in our research as it did not talk to the need for task management among our users. We noticed that many users naturally gravitated to talking about their patients and how patient care and scheduling affected their days.
They spoke briefly on items such as peer review and CE (continued eduction), but it was not a driving force and many found those to be least important. Users expressed mediocre desire to be notified through programs, and expressed more interest in tracking patients and patient records/orders.
Execution
We initially started with an online survey to get a test for the market that MeasureCare was operating in. The company was operating under the assumption of what software their target users were using, but the results of this effort proved that the assumption was wrong. In fact, users did not use popular or any task management programs and focused strictly on ones geared directly towards healthcare, EHR/EMR, and lab status.
Here are some results from the survey.
We also created an initial affinity map to get understand trends within our smaller pool of users early on. Much of the data did not make any sense to use at this point in our research as it did not talk to the need for task management among our users. We noticed that many users naturally gravitated to talking about their patients and how patient care and scheduling affected their days.
They spoke briefly on items such as peer review and CE (continued eduction), but it was not a driving force and many found those to be least important. Users expressed mediocre desire to be notified through programs, and expressed more interest in tracking patients and patient records/orders.
We also created an initial affinity map to get understand trends within our smaller pool of users early on. Much of the data did not make any sense to use at this point in our research as it did not talk to the need for task management among our users. We noticed that many users naturally gravitated to talking about their patients and how patient care and scheduling affected their days.
They spoke briefly on items such as peer review and CE (continued eduction), but it was not a driving force and many found those to be least important. Users expressed mediocre desire to be notified through programs, and expressed more interest in tracking patients and patient records/orders.
We also created an initial affinity map to get understand trends within our smaller pool of users early on. Much of the data did not make any sense to use at this point in our research as it did not talk to the need for task management among our users. We noticed that many users naturally gravitated to talking about their patients and how patient care and scheduling affected their days.
They spoke briefly on items such as peer review and CE (continued eduction), but it was not a driving force and many found those to be least important. Users expressed mediocre desire to be notified through programs, and expressed more interest in tracking patients and patient records/orders.
Discoveries
MeasureCare's main competitor we found was Mobile Heartbeat, a platform that is gaining traction and attempting to capitalize on the lack of streamlined communications within healthcare. It's an enterprise management and communication software that's strictly mobile, whereas MeasureCare is looking to be cross platform from desktop to mobile phone.
Asana was still a good comparative application even though it's more for tech and business management. The way they established the ability to assign, divide, and track work was noteworthy, robust, and intuitive. They also had a desktop and mobile platform available.
EPIC was finally a noteworthy comparison. Our user research and interview data told us that EPIC was most wildly used at their locations and did have basic capabilities for communication, contact, and assignment baked into the program in addition to it being a full EMR/EHR. The ability to track lab and image orders, follow up on to-do assignments, and quick contact was useful, but no where near as powerful as a dedicated task manager like Asana.
Discoveries
MeasureCare's main competitor we found was Mobile Heartbeat, a platform that is gaining traction and attempting to capitalize on the lack of streamlined communications within healthcare. It's an enterprise management and communication software that's strictly mobile, whereas MeasureCare is looking to be cross platform from desktop to mobile phone.
Asana was still a good comparative application even though it's more for tech and business management. The way they established the ability to assign, divide, and track work was noteworthy, robust, and intuitive. They also had a desktop and mobile platform available.
EPIC was finally a noteworthy comparison. Our user research and interview data told us that EPIC was most wildly used at their locations and did have basic capabilities for communication, contact, and assignment baked into the program in addition to it being a full EMR/EHR. The ability to track lab and image orders, follow up on to-do assignments, and quick contact was useful, but no where near as powerful as a dedicated task manager like Asana.
ISSUES WITH THE TAXONOMY
Our biggest challenge in our first phase of research was defining the meaning of "task". Our users were confused as to what task even meant, as they don't view their schedules as tasks. It appeared that the problem that MeasureCare believed existed for users was in fact, not the real problem. The scope was much bigger than just task management for mobile.
"We need to discover the depth of the problem for clinicians (doctors and nurses)."
—MeasureCare UX Team
We had to backtrack and reconstruct our interview questions to better target the information we wanted. Here we focused on the "Who, What, When, and How" for a task.
ISSUES WITH THE TAXONOMY
Our biggest challenge in our first phase of research was defining the meaning of "task". Our users were confused as to what task even meant, as they don't view their schedules as tasks. It appeared that the problem that MeasureCare believed existed for users was in fact, not the real problem. The scope was much bigger than just task management for mobile.
"We need to discover the depth of the problem for clinicians (doctors and nurses)."
—MeasureCare UX Team
We had to backtrack and reconstruct our interview questions to better target the information we wanted. Here we focused on the "Who, What, When, and How" for a task.
Week 2: Further Research and Design
Week 2: Further Research and Design
2ND INTERVIEW ROUNDS & MAPPING DATA
In the effort to expand our pool of data, we had to expand our search further for qualified users. Our team reached out to professionals in national medical associations, medical boards, walk-ins into clinics, Clubhouse, word-of-mouth, and referrals from mutual contacts. From this pool we pulled out a total of 12 interviews conducted remotely.
Our final affinity map for this sprint yielded more thoughtful, insightful, and empathetic data that painted a clearer picture to the problem we were dealing with.
Peer review is secondary or tertiary in tier of importance behind patient [needs].
"I have limited time to give quality care to my patients" (our users are patient driven)
Because of my heavy workload, I rarely have time to waste and need to be efficient.
Strong communication is essential to avoiding mistakes or misinterpretations, and will save me the inconvenience of asking again.
Verbal communication is necessary to get a direct and timely response.
It's frustrating that the applications we use don't work with each other making our workflow needlessly complicated.
2ND INTERVIEW ROUNDS & MAPPING DATA
In the effort to expand our pool of data, we had to expand our search further for qualified users. Our team reached out to professionals in national medical associations, medical boards, walk-ins into clinics, Clubhouse, word-of-mouth, and referrals from mutual contacts. From this pool we pulled out a total of 12 interviews conducted remotely.
Our final affinity map for this sprint yielded more thoughtful, insightful, and empathetic data that painted a clearer picture to the problem we were dealing with.
Peer review is secondary or tertiary in tier of importance behind patient [needs].
"I have limited time to give quality care to my patients" (our users are patient driven)
Because of my heavy workload, I rarely have time to waste and need to be efficient.
Strong communication is essential to avoiding mistakes or misinterpretations, and will save me the inconvenience of asking again.
Verbal communication is necessary to get a direct and timely response.
It's frustrating that the applications we use don't work with each other making our workflow needlessly complicated.
USER FLOWS & PERSONAS
Our userflows helped us create the "happy path" for users to experience. We created dozens of flows to discover how users could potentially utilize the app whether it was to create a task, accept tasks, read only, etc. Our exploration also encompassed some potential solutions to our pain points discovered through affinity mapping.
USER FLOWS & PERSONAS
Our userflows helped us create the "happy path" for users to experience. We created dozens of flows to discover how users could potentially utilize the app whether it was to create a task, accept tasks, read only, etc. Our exploration also encompassed some potential solutions to our pain points discovered through affinity mapping.
DISCOVERIES
We realized that our personas do not match the product. From the data gathered, our personas closely aligned with our users wants. This illustrated to our stakeholders that the solution they wanted wasn't exactly the right fit for the their targeted users.
Furthermore, we figured out that workflow management and communication were the underlying pain points. Task management really is just a small part of the bigger picture that needed to interact with other features to valuable.
DISCOVERIES
We realized that our personas do not match the product. From the data gathered, our personas closely aligned with our users wants. This illustrated to our stakeholders that the solution they wanted wasn't exactly the right fit for the their targeted users.
Furthermore, we figured out that workflow management and communication were the underlying pain points. Task management really is just a small part of the bigger picture that needed to interact with other features to valuable.
The broader picture became service design. With attention to designing an entire workflow for B2B, communication and management together was a key point we made to our stakeholders. We did a competitive market analysis to find they could get better market share here if they wanted to continue down the task route.
The broader picture became service design. With attention to designing an entire workflow for B2B, communication and management together was a key point we made to our stakeholders. We did a competitive market analysis to find they could get better market share here if they wanted to continue down the task route.
Week 3: More Research, Testing, and Synthesis
Week 3: More Research, Testing, and Synthesis
We know by now the solution we were tasked with creating didn't quite align with user needs as illustrated by our research and personas. However, we still wanted to create and test an MVP because at the end of the day, the stakeholders wanted to see why theirs solution failed and validate the data.
Our hypothesis: Healthcare workers need an efficient way to delegate, organize, and track tasks to improve workflow efficiency.
Our Design Motivation: By creating a task management feature, healthcare workers will be able to track and delegate to-dos, therefore streamlining workflow processes for a dynamic work environment.
We know by now the solution we were tasked with creating didn't quite align with user needs as illustrated by our research and personas. However, we still wanted to create and test an MVP because at the end of the day, the stakeholders wanted to see why theirs solution failed and validate the data.
Our hypothesis: Healthcare workers need an efficient way to delegate, organize, and track tasks to improve workflow efficiency.
Our Design Motivation: By creating a task management feature, healthcare workers will be able to track and delegate to-dos, therefore streamlining workflow processes for a dynamic work environment.
How Might we
Empower users to access and clarify given tasks and updates?
View the who, what, where, when, and how of given tasks?
Allow users to customize by priority and timeliness?
How Might we
Empower users to access and clarify given tasks and updates?
View the who, what, where, when, and how of given tasks?
Allow users to customize by priority and timeliness?
Mapping the flow for highs and lows
With our research we created a more thorough journey map of a nurse practitioner's day accompanied by the best part to the lowest parts of their experiences managing their workflow and tasks. This showed areas where we could optimize and improve workflow for the nurse. This map was more akin to our personas.
The final user flow was a portion that was wanted to focus on: how to create the most simple of task management and interaction for a view-only mobile app if the nurse was on the go and busy. We asked ourselves, "if the clinician only had X amount of time to do an action, what would be it and how would that look like?
Mapping the flow for highs and lows
With our research we created a more thorough journey map of a nurse practitioner's day accompanied by the best part to the lowest parts of their experiences managing their workflow and tasks. This showed areas where we could optimize and improve workflow for the nurse. This map was more akin to our personas.
The final user flow was a portion that was wanted to focus on: how to create the most simple of task management and interaction for a view-only mobile app if the nurse was on the go and busy. We asked ourselves, "if the clinician only had X amount of time to do an action, what would be it and how would that look like?
IDEATION AND EXPLORATION OF UI FUNCTIONALITY
For task management, we wanted to build out a system that the user can access from multiple views: calendar, board style, and list view. From there they could sort their tasks by date, priority, assignee, etc. Task items would be color coded to differentiate type of task. We also proposed for a way to view the assignor's schedule and integrate with mChat to get into contact, schedule a meeting, or find their current location and call.
Users can also prioritize their tasks by tapping on a star or heart icon. Task details contained the ability to view comments, updates for that specific task, and also get into contact with the assignor.
IDEATION AND EXPLORATION OF UI FUNCTIONALITY
For task management, we wanted to build out a system that the user can access from multiple views: calendar, board style, and list view. From there they could sort their tasks by date, priority, assignee, etc. Task items would be color coded to differentiate type of task. We also proposed for a way to view the assignor's schedule and integrate with mChat to get into contact, schedule a meeting, or find their current location and call.
Users can also prioritize their tasks by tapping on a star or heart icon. Task details contained the ability to view comments, updates for that specific task, and also get into contact with the assignor.
USability TESTING DISCOVERIES
Glows: Users had little difficulty finding the pushed updates or viewing attachment files within in their task item. They information presente was simple, and easy to understand by our users.
Grows: A heart icon was often confused as a "favorites" button, as opposed to the intended prioritization. Backtracking through the app to get back to the task overview screen proved to be a little difficult as the users tapped on home instead of the task icon. Furthermore, users wanted to define sorting and prioritization features more (we had removed it for this user testing round to keep the test of taxonomy on the forefront of our minds).
USability TESTING DISCOVERIES
Glows: Users had little difficulty finding the pushed updates or viewing attachment files within in their task item. They information presente was simple, and easy to understand by our users.
Grows: A heart icon was often confused as a "favorites" button, as opposed to the intended prioritization. Backtracking through the app to get back to the task overview screen proved to be a little difficult as the users tapped on home instead of the task icon. Furthermore, users wanted to define sorting and prioritization features more (we had removed it for this user testing round to keep the test of taxonomy on the forefront of our minds).
FUTURE STATE WITH NEXT STEPS
FUTURE STATE WITH NEXT STEPS
FUTURE STATE WITH NEXT STEPS
In regards to the task management route, the UX team recommends a few courses of action for this particular product and effort to maximize the use for the users.
Product Integration: MeasureCare already has mContacts and mChat as published products. Finding ways to blends those features intuitively into task management would yield seamless experience.
Research: Further gathering data on real users, particularly the ones that we weren't able to get access to—business adminstrators.
User Testing: Continue to go lean through design and user testing to discover how users behave in an actual hospital or clinic setting.
ADA Compliant: To meet the standards for web and digital accessibility.
Finally, MeasureCare really has room and potential to grow. The MVP needs to exist in the middle, but in the future has the path to grow into the best tool for healthcare workers to use that address communication and task management better than their competitors can.
In regards to the task management route, the UX team recommends a few courses of action for this particular product and effort to maximize the use for the users.
Product Integration: MeasureCare already has mContacts and mChat as published products. Finding ways to blends those features intuitively into task management would yield seamless experience.
Research: Further gathering data on real users, particularly the ones that we weren't able to get access to—business adminstrators.
User Testing: Continue to go lean through design and user testing to discover how users behave in an actual hospital or clinic setting.
ADA Compliant: To meet the standards for web and digital accessibility.
Finally, MeasureCare really has room and potential to grow. The MVP needs to exist in the middle, but in the future has the path to grow into the best tool for healthcare workers to use that address communication and task management better than their competitors can.
SUPPLEMENTAL RECOMMENDATIONS
SUPPLEMENTAL RECOMMENDATIONS
SUPPLEMENTAL RECOMMENDATIONS
Market Placement: Many apps do task management/planning or communication well, but not both. There is currently an open market space for this kind of product for healthcare.
Communication: Consider adding patient-based practitioner communication to streamline interactions. Many users stressed the need for quick and effective communication through a secure server.
Software Integration: In early iterations, try exploring integration with EMR tools with other software features and functions. This is a driving force for most of the practitioner's day—finding a way that they can access either all of their software in one "hub" or have a very robust "MeasureCare Suite" to utilize.
Task Manager 2.0+: Task management needs to be a part of the bigger product suite—it's a very small step towards workflow management and communication.
Voice-to-Text: Make note taking easier by recording conversations and notes to use for later that way the doctors and nurses can focus solely on giving patients quality care and attention.
Writing-to-Text: Utilize the accessibility of accessibly of handwriting notes and then digitizing it for review later.
Data Visualization: Visuals help convey information quickly and can aid in summary of patients.
WCAG 2.1 & ADA Compliance: Accessible design isn't just for disability, but can also help users find information better through hierarchy and contrast. Good for busy doctors on the go who need to scan.
Market Placement: Many apps do task management/planning or communication well, but not both. There is currently an open market space for this kind of product for healthcare.
Communication: Consider adding patient-based practitioner communication to streamline interactions. Many users stressed the need for quick and effective communication through a secure server.
Software Integration: In early iterations, try exploring integration with EMR tools with other software features and functions. This is a driving force for most of the practitioner's day—finding a way that they can access either all of their software in one "hub" or have a very robust "MeasureCare Suite" to utilize.
Task Manager 2.0+: Task management needs to be a part of the bigger product suite—it's a very small step towards workflow management and communication.
Voice-to-Text: Make note taking easier by recording conversations and notes to use for later that way the doctors and nurses can focus solely on giving patients quality care and attention.
Writing-to-Text: Utilize the accessibility of accessibly of handwriting notes and then digitizing it for review later.
Data Visualization: Visuals help convey information quickly and can aid in summary of patients.
WCAG 2.1 & ADA Compliance: Accessible design isn't just for disability, but can also help users find information better through hierarchy and contrast. Good for busy doctors on the go who need to scan.
SOFTWARE & RESOURCES
Tools: Figma, Miro, Zoom, Clubhouse, Otter.ai // Images: Figma Icon Plugins // Presentation: Slides Go, Google Slides // Demo & Prototype: Figma // Photos: Adobestock, Unsplash
Role: Lead UI, User Researcher & Recruiter // Team: Brody Moore, Alyssa Agnir, and Jerry Qin
FURTHER READING WITH SOURCES
Workflow Management in Healthcare / Improving Patient Onboarding
Tools: Figma, Miro, Zoom, Clubhouse, Otter.ai // Images: Figma Icon Plugins // Presentation: Slides Go, Google Slides // Demo & Prototype: Figma // Photos: Adobestock, Unsplash
Role: Lead UI, User Researcher & Recruiter // Team: Brody Moore, Alyssa Agnir, and Jerry Qin
FURTHER READING WITH SOURCES
Workflow Management in Healthcare / Improving Patient Onboarding