White Plume

How might we increase doctor-patient relationships through the use of an Electronic Health Record?

ROLE

Development Intern at White Plume

(Product Design + UX + SWE)

TEAM
Rita Wright

Matthew Menendez

Katharyn Lowry

Gabby Hoefer

TOOLS

Wireframing

Prototyping

User Interviews

DURATION

Fall 2018

(6 months)

OVERVIEW

AcellaSmart is a smart Electronic Health Record.

Challenge: Improve the relationship between the doctor and the patient.

Solution: Streamline the documentation process (EHR) so that doctors could have more time to focus on the patient.

What's an EHR?

Current EHR Layouts

Design Goals

Design a system that reduces the amount of time doctors spend on their laptops during patient visits
Identify pain points doctors have with the current EHRs
Develop a software that is adaptable across various medical fields

Personal Goals

Develop a software for an industry that I have never worked in before
Learn how to best design a software that minimizes the time users will spend on it, rather than bringing in users

BACKGROUND RESEARCH

I realized very quickly that designing for doctors comes with a different set of challenges. Doctors have very different goals than consumers, and the healthcare industry as a whole is extremely fragmented.

Medical software is completely different than consumer tech.

How might I develop a solution to help doctors reduce documentation in order to increase patient interaction?

How might this solution adapt across the wide variety of specialties of doctors?

How might this solution predict patient treatment needs and deliver information to doctors accordingly?

DESIGN EXPLORATIONS

AccelaView began as a business idea, which was now beginning to be built as a functional prototype. Like everything else, it all began with a pen and paper.

Gotta start somewhere: designing the initial wireframes.

USER RESEARCH

After interviewing a couple doctors, we created personas, journey maps, empathy maps and a storyboard to better get into the mindset of the user.

Learning more about the medical industry starts with the doctors.

USER INTERVIEWS

Let's get the user involved in the design. We presented 30 physicians with mockups and the form below, then discussed their EHR experience.

User testing at a medical conference in Birmingham.

Which components can we eliminate?

Surprisingly, the doctors wanted all of the components because they have so many different patients.

How do you see so many components?

Doctors can't minimize tabs on the current system, meaning they have to fully close out of each component to see other patient info.

What is your experience with the current system?

Doctors did not hesitate to tell us about many pain points in their current EHRs. They reported spending too much time searching for basic information.

RESEARCH FINDINGS

All the doctors we spoke to complained about their current EHR system. We did some digging and found ways to alleviate several common pain points.

When treating patients, the stakes are high. How can we help?

Many Different Needs

This system needs to be adaptable to a variety of different patient needs.

Solution: Pull components around on the page to personalize

No Minimizing Tabs, Only Close

For security reasons, EHRs do not allow. To access different information, doctors must exit and re-enter the system.

Solution: Component-style layout where information is visible all at once

Patient Briefing

Before the visit, Doctors must be briefed on the patient's medical issue. This takes up 3-4 mins of time, while patient is waiting.

Solution: Easy access to Chief Complaint

History Search

Doctors need to parse through lengthy patient history in order to diagnose.

Solution: Easy search through patient history

BEFORE

AFTER

Voya

NEXT UP

DESIGN OUTCOME

Big takeaway: EHRs get in the way of patient relationships.

AcellaSMART allows doctors to manipulate components, see all components clearly at once and therefore spend more time focusing strengthening their patient relationships.

WHITE PLUME

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