Enhancing Healthcare Support:
Introducing a New Feature for Caregivers
Highlights
Making a complex workflow intuitive for non tech-savvy users
Mobile friendly designs using Material Design
Annotating for accessibility
Responding to quick pivots
The problem
Problem Statement
Patients and their family members that care for them need an improved solution to efficiently manage their support network and enhance communication with healthcare providers.
users
Medeo caters to doctors and patients seeking online connections through video appointments, secure messaging, and online booking.
Many of Medeo’s primary users are non-tech-savvy individuals. They have many medical concerns, which means they have frequent doctor’s appointments, and a long list of medical history to keep track of.
Their support system, on the other hand, often comprises of younger family members who want to attend appointments and have access to the patient’s medical information on their own devices in order to more effectively help their loved ones.
For this project, we needed to create a system would empower patients and caregivers to collaboratively manage patient care.
Shift in strategy
The Medeo Care Circle project underwent significant changes, shifting from a part of the monetization plan to becoming a free feature aimed at enhancing Medeo's value and opening new business opportunities. This transformation presented Medeo Design with the challenge of reworking patient invitation user flows, demanding adaptability and adherence to new requirements.
New Requirements
The revised requirements encompassed critical aspects:
Medeo patients sending invitations to caregivers via email.
Patients inviting up to 3 caregivers.
Visibility into invitation status (accepted, declined, pending).
Capability to cancel a pending relationship and revoke a relationship.
Caregivers' ability to accept or decline invitations, with a limit of 3 caregiver invitations.
Caregivers having omniscient access to the patient's information in Medeo.
Design process
Mobile first approach
From the outset, the design process embraced a mobile-first strategy, ensuring that the user experience was optimized for mobile devices. Material Design served as the design system, providing a cohesive and user-friendly framework.
Ideation
Drawing inspiration from video games, the initial design phase incorporated a concept where the number of caregivers allowed for a patient's care resembled player slots. This approach aimed to convey the idea of accommodating up to 3 caregivers.
Research was followed by wireframe sketches and the development of high-fidelity mockups.
Validation
User testing round 1
Given the complexity of the feature, user validation was essential. Unmoderated testing was chosen to expedite the validation process. It was guided by specific screener questions for caregivers. Participants were introduced to Medeo's functionalities, with scenarios presented to evaluate the Care Circle model for their needs.
Format of user tests conducted for Care Circle
User testing round 2
Initial testing indicated that user understanding of Care Circle was not entirely clear. User feedback and team reflections prompted further iterations and the launch of a second test. Results were analyzed and shared with stakeholders to inform the refinement process.
Part of user test result consolidation on Confluence
Refinement
Design sprint reviews at QHR Technologies involved presenting work to key stakeholders in Product Development. While stakeholders were content with the designs and user testing results, a desire for one more round of iterations led to additional tweaks. This iterative process culminated in a satisfying outcome ready for handoff to the Medeo engineering team.
Design specs
The final hand off specs clearly laid out the separate workflows for patients and their caregivers.
Open full hand off designs in a new window.
Care Circle Flow for the Patient role
Accessibility annotation
In a proactive measure to enhance accessibility, Medeo Design committed to annotating for keyboard navigation and screen readers before specifications were handed off to development. Collaboration with front-end developers in charge of accessibility revealed that Material Design, the design system that Medeo uses, already addressed many accessibility aspects, streamlining the annotation process.
Success Metrics
Even though I do not have access to data post launch of this feature, here are some ways I would have measured success.
User Engagement:
Measure how often users initiate or accept caregiver invitations and use the Care Circle feature. Compare usage data before and after the introduction of the free Care Circle feature. Increase in user engagement could indicate the feature's success in adding value to the platform.Conversion Rate:
Monitor the conversion rate of free Medeo users to paid subscribers. If the introduction of Care Circle as a free feature leads to more users subscribing to the premium Medeo service, it can be considered a success.Completion Rate:
Measure the percentage of users who successfully complete key actions within Care Circle, such as sending invitations and accepting them.
Conclusion
The Medeo Care Circle design journey illustrates the adaptability and user-centric focus of Medeo Design. It highlights the importance of responding to changes, accommodating non-tech-savvy users, and maintaining a commitment to accessibility in healthcare support.