2017. Web application.
Client: MedicSpot, a UK-based telemedicine startup.
THE CHALLENGE
MedicSpot is a UK-based telemedicine service that allows patients to access a private GP though a video consultation by walking in to one of 40 pharmacies in the UK. MedicSpot is the UK's only telemedicine service that gives the patient access to commonly used medical instruments, allowing the GP to make a more accurate diagnosis.
My role was to redesign the doctor-facing interface, which allows the doctor to view and examine the patient on video whilst also being able to perform common tasks such as taking clinical notes, viewing previous consultations, sending prescriptions, and writing referral letters and sick notes.
MedicSpot's main problem was that their current system was outdated, time consuming and required the doctor to perform many of their tasks outside of the system. They were looking for a much more efficient workflow and a system that was both scalable and required minimal training.
ANALYSIS
Dr. Toor entering post-consultation notes
The team used the method of contextual inquiry to observe a frequent user (a MedicSpot GP) as he conducted a live consultation with a patient over the existing system. This gave us valuable insight into the pain points of the user. It allowed us to observe how he interacted with the system in the context of a real consultation.
MedicSpot's existing consultation screen
In addition, we conducted a competitive analysis to study existing video interfaces within the telemedicine industry as well as B2C video conferencing tools such as Skype, WebEx, Adobe Connect and Zoom. Many of these tools have additional features such as screen sharing, note taking, chat, and poll taking which allowed us to better understand the multitasking experience within a video call.
USER INTERVIEWS
The team reached out to 16 users in the medical profession including eight GP's (four were existing MedicSpot users), three medical students, and five specialists (a urologist, anaesthetist, surgeon, and radiologist). Through speaking with existing MedicSpot doctors, I wanted to understand their current behaviour, frustrations, and process with the current system. With the other medical professionals who haven’t used MedicSpot, I learned about their feelings towards telemedicine in general, got to know more about their patient consultation process, and discovered what was important to them in a patient consultation.
“A good consultation is one that flows easily, when you’re not distracted by the system, and have the time and tools to make an accurate diagnosis.”
SYNTHESISING RESEARCH
The team created an empathy map to better understand the problems our users were facing by highlighting their thoughts, feelings, and actions. Ultimately, we determined that the main problems were around efficiency, convenience, intuitiveness, and building rapport with the patient.
The UX team empathy mapping
User journey and experience map
IDEATION AND BRAINSTORMING
The team organised a design studio session together with the CEO of MedicSpot and their medical director. Through this process, we came up with dozens of ideas for specific problems we were trying to solve. We came out of this process selecting some of our best ideas, and were ready to build on these and turn them into our early sketches and prototypes.
SKETCHES AND WIREFRAMES
We took some of our best ideas from our design studio and refined them on pen and paper. We created user flows and wire flows, then I sketched all the screens out on pen and paper for our paper prototype, which we tested on several users. We determined that the use of a tabbed structure would best help us solve the problems of not having to scroll down or click out of the screen while speaking with a patient.
My sketch of the main doctor-side consultation screen
My sketch of our initial wire flow
Our final user flow
PROTOTYPES AND USER TESTING
We tested our paper prototype on six users and several versions of our low to mid-fidelity digital prototype on an additional seven users. Based on their valuable feedback, we made several iterations of the prototype that considered information architecture, improving intuitiveness, as well as many technical changes specific to the way physicians work and are governed. However, the biggest changes were around sizing and positioning of each of the areas on the screen. We conducted simple tests to see how engaged users felt in a video call when the other person was looking at different parts of the screen. Unsurprisingly, the further away from the camera the person was looking, the less engaged the test user felt.
Some of our mid-fidelity screens (created on Sketch and InVision)
THE FINAL PROTOTYPE
Doctor-facing consultation screen
The final high-fidelity prototype made use of MedicSpot's existing colour palette and typeface. The complete process and final screens were presented in detail to MedicSpot’s CEO and Managing Director, accompanied with detailed design specs. MedicSpot’s next step will be to hire developers to implement the new designs in an upcoming version of their platform.
Custom iconography
Style guide sample
CONCLUSION
I learned that with the right design, the opportunity to drastically change the experience for both the doctor and the patient was possible. Good engagement was something many of our users valued most in a doctor-patient scenario. The new design allowed doctors to fully focus on the patient, their top priority.
Telemedicine is an exciting opportunity to reach those who are more vulnerable, such as the elderly, disabled, and those incapable of travelling long distances or are without proper healthcare nearby.
It would be amazing to take this a step further and eliminate having to travel to a pharmacy for the assessment by creating the means to allow common medical devices (stethoscope, pulse oximeter, etc.) to be accessible to every patient in their own home.
Telemedicine is certainly the future and I look forward to seeing companies like MedicSpot grow.