Haven Care
A collaborative personal project, focused on solving pain points found in existing veterinarian EMRs (electronic medical record) applications for users and improving the overall learnability and ease of use of EMR’s core feature sets.
Problem
How might we develop veterinarian EMR applications that are user-friendly, minimizing the need for extensive training, and avoiding feature bloat by focusing on essential functionalities and adhering to basic usability principles?
Goal
Improve the user experience for features veterinarians use daily.
Analyze current user experiences from a task perspective to identify and highlight the essential information veterinarians need to complete their tasks effectively.
Length of project
3 Months (September 2019 - October 2019) - Part Time
My role & responsibilities
UX Designer
Competitive Analysis & Research
User research (online)
Information Architecture
Feature: Patient Database UX
Feature: Patient Medical History UX
Feature: Onboarding New Patient UX
Feature: Charts UX
The Solution
A streamlined desktop dashboard designed to enhance the efficiency of veterinary administrators' daily tasks. By utilizing familiar web patterns and interactions, this solution minimizes the need for extensive onboarding and training by reducing feature bloat and non essential information.
Challenges
Identify key features users interact with on a daily basis to help prioritize UX improvements.
Reduce the need for software training by introducing common usability patterns.
Improve the patient and associated EMR search flows.
Design Process
Enthnographic Research
Market/Competitive analysis
User Persona Development
Information Architecture
Feature Flowcharts/Wire flows
Paper sketches
Low-fidelity wireframes
(Not scoped for this project)
Identify goals for testing
Write usability test script
Execute testing
Summarize outcomes & prioritize actionable feedback
Design Iteration
High Fidelity Mockups
Prototype
Step 1
Research
I employed two distinct research methodologies, namely ethnographic research and competitive analysis, with the aim of discerning user pain points within existing applications and obtaining insights into user demographics (personas).
Goals of the competitive analysis (sources: online reviews and vet software sales websites)
What applications were the most popular and why were they popular?
What features do users use on a daily basis?
What did users like and dislike about those applications and offered features?
Goals of the ethnographic research (sources: Linkedin, vets on sub reddit)
Who are users of this application?
What are their backgrounds and education, and training?
What are their motivations and their daily frustrations?
What users are saying
“Importing a patients forms if they’re coming from another vet is a manual process. Why can’t I just scan them in?!?”
— Neo Software Review Site
“The patient’s tab doesn’t have a Separate medications or immunizations tab it makes it hard to look up these quickly.”
— Neo Software Review Site
“I usually start my day by checking on which patients have appointment and going over emails or messages left from the day before, and then I check with the nurses and doctors to see if they need anything.
— reddit user
“Too many random features, overwhelming amounts of information at all times. Other offices and client’s call for specific copies of vaccines or immunizations and it’s slow and cumbersome to look up.”
— Neo Software Review Site
Understand & Empathize
Drawing from the insights discovered through research, I formulated two provisional personas. These personas served as guiding pillars, ensuring a user-centric approach throughout the development process, with a heightened emphasis on addressing their distinct challenges.
Veronica / 57yrs / Veterinarian Admin
Frustrations:
Software training is expensive and takes alot of time.
Is overwhelmed with all the different features in their software. Is primarily focused on in patient and supporting her Doctor’s needs.
Looking up medical records for a patient is a nightmare due records being separate from their patient database.
Goals:
Avoid software training for her employees when possible
Make it easier to reference a patient’s medical records.
Create custom templates to organize how her Doctors take their notes
Darren / 23yrs / Veterinarian Nurse
Frustrations:
Hates having to constantly reference support documentation for their EMR.
Converting SOAP forms to electronic records is a slow manual effort and errors are sometimes made.
Cumbersome to look up very specific health related records for patients.
Goals:
Find ways to be more efficient when it comes reporting (SOAP.)
Make it easier to reference a patient’s medical records.
Develop a better system for patient intake for himself.
Common Software Features
Through a competitive analysis, I discerned the prevalent features commonly offered in veterinary Electronic Medical Record (EMR) software. This strategic identification process helped facilitate a focused investigation into user pain points.
Appointment Calendars
Patient / EMR Database
Billing/Transaction Records
Chart (SOAP) System
Inventory Management (Medical Supplies)
Problem Solve & Ideate
Building upon the aforementioned research and personas, I prioritized solving for pain points related to the EHR medical history search experience. This came up in research multiple times and gave the impression of being a daily used feature.
EHR User Pain Points
“Too many random features, overwhelming amounts of information at all times. Other offices and client’s call for specific copies of vaccines or immunizations and it’s slow and cumbersome to look up.”
“The patient’s tab doesn’t have a separate medications or immunizations tabs it makes it hard to look up these quickly.”
Before Re-Architecture
Users have reported that the app's EHR system is inefficient in locating patient information promptly upon request from pet owners. This inefficiency stems from a mismatch between the app's information architecture and the mental models of its users. Specifically, vaccines, immunizations, and lab tests are categorized separately, which complicates their association with the respective patients they pertain to.
Competitor Information Architecture (for EHR & Search)
After Re-Architecture
By applying standardizing web search patterns and reorganizing the patient database (EHR) hierarchically, starting from the patient, I streamlined the medical record lookup process. This approach aligns more closely with users' contextual usage and their mental model for searching for patient related medical files.
Patient Database Low Fidelity Mockups
For the patients’ database I utilized a mixture standardized list patterns and layouts and experimented with card versions as well. I prioritized the content of the headers based on the information a user might need to quickly parse while communicating or verifying information with an owner about a patient. Things such as breed name of dog, owner name and an patient image in the card view.
Patient Info Low Fidelity Mockups
I explored several different variations of the patient info and medical history flows. Showcased below are a couple different variations, each are variation is focused on highlighting the most relevant categories of information for users with a focus on efficiency and clarity. Patient info, owner(s) contact info and medical history being the most prominent.
Medical History Low Fidelity Mockups
For the patients’ medical history I utilized standardized list patterns and layouts. Adding tabs for a generalized history tab and then individual tabs for specific categories users commonly brought up during research. Also adding the common web pattern for sharing a document with owners.
High Fidelity Mockups
Collaborating with the brilliant visual designer Emili Koui who defined the design language and UI styles and dashboard home screen for this project. I used her design language and guidelines to build the high fidelity wireframes and prototype showcased below.