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Role UX/UI Designer | Project Academic study
Timeline 3 week period | Tools Pen, paper and Figma
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Project Overview
What is FirstPoint?
First Point is an app concept conceived for a government initiative that aims to 'place people and patients at the centre of healthcare' - to deeply understanding patient needs and experiences, while improving patient outcomes.
What is FirstPoint?
First Point is an app concept conceived for a government initiative that aims to 'place people and patients at the centre of healthcare' - to deeply understanding patient needs and experiences, while improving patient outcomes.
Identifying the Problem Space
Can patient experiences be improved?
Patient experience is how the patient encounters the healthcare system at each point of contact, from the phone, to the GP, to the nurse. Primary care services such as GP’s are the first point of contact with the healthcare system for most people which they rely on.
Most, if not all GP consultations have moved online in the most recent times. This has resulted in an increased pressure to deliver a service that caters to all, at a high level.
Most, if not all GP consultations have moved online in the most recent times. This has resulted in an increased pressure to deliver a service that caters to all, at a high level.
My Objective
The Goal
Deeply understand patient needs and experiences within the healthcare system to identify opportunities for design intervention to create positive and improve on patient outcomes.
Deeply understand patient needs and experiences within the healthcare system to identify opportunities for design intervention to create positive and improve on patient outcomes.
Understanding the Problem Space
Hello, anyone there!
Exploring the current outcomes of patient and GP consultations interactions, my secondary research made me aware that...
Exploring the current outcomes of patient and GP consultations interactions, my secondary research made me aware that...
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The GP Patient Survey also discovered that...
1 in 5 people struggled to see their doctor ‘fairly quickly’, with the main cause being a lack of available appointments
1 in 5 people struggled to see their doctor ‘fairly quickly’, with the main cause being a lack of available appointments
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People also struggled to get appointments for...
regular health check-ups
treatments and medication reviews
regular health check-ups
treatments and medication reviews
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As a result, they could not get the...
the medication and treatment they need to manage their condition
the medication and treatment they need to manage their condition
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To further understand the situation...
Some GP surgeries have stopped taking online bookings
Some GP surgeries have stopped taking online bookings
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This means they will only allow patients to call up for same day appointments. There’s no guarantee you will get seen, particularly when everybody is asked to call the surgery at the same time
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Sometimes it is not that there is a delay in being seen, but that there are barriers to making the initial contact
Sometimes it is not that there is a delay in being seen, but that there are barriers to making the initial contact
Understanding the people
Conducting 1st hand interviews
For a better understanding of the issues in this space, I sat with a few people to to get clarification on their frustrations when accessing healthcare through their GP. My objective was to:
• Learn about the relationship between people and their GP’s
For a better understanding of the issues in this space, I sat with a few people to to get clarification on their frustrations when accessing healthcare through their GP. My objective was to:
• Learn about the relationship between people and their GP’s
• Understand the challenges of these relationships through their experiences with the healthcare system
All of this will hopefully help me to validate whether:
• A lack of inadequate access and communication between people and their GP’s leaves people with feelings of frustration and worry at not being able to make decisions about their healthcare needs
Key themes from interviews
Collating my data from the interviews and through the affinity mapping process, identifying pain points, motivations and behaviours, 3 distinct themes were extracted. Digging deeper into these themes, I created insights based on the interviewers to give me a better understanding of the issues:
Collating my data from the interviews and through the affinity mapping process, identifying pain points, motivations and behaviours, 3 distinct themes were extracted. Digging deeper into these themes, I created insights based on the interviewers to give me a better understanding of the issues:
• Access to appointments
People want to access their GP’s in a straightforward manner but barriers prevent them from doing so. Providing them with clear easy ways to access their primary care will alleviate feelings of frustration and improve people’s experiences with the healthcare system.
• Communication with GP’s
People want effective and joined up communication with their GP’s about their healthcare needs but can sometimes feel unclear about their situation. Providing them with clear lines of communication will help better manage their expectations.
• Alternative access
through education
through education
People want to be in control of their healthcare needs in spite of the healthcare system being their first point of contact. Equipping them with knowledge through education, will empower them to make better decisions about their health.
A new understanding
What have I learned so far...
Access to appointments is very important to my interviewees as it is their first point of contact with the healthcare system.
There are frustrated feelings and a lack confidence with the current process of successfully booking a GP appointment.
This causes avoidance when making appointments, annoyance and a fear of being a burden to the healthcare system, results in people’s healthcare needs not being met.
With this in mind, I can now frame my design question
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How might we...
help people access their GP’s in a straight-forward and
barrier-free way in order to increase positive experiences
when accessing the healthcare system
barrier-free way in order to increase positive experiences
when accessing the healthcare system
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Who are we design for?
My Persona
Based on my interview research, representing my target audience, Alexandra Chima will help humanise and allow me to fully empathise with her wants and needs to create a solution that solves her problem.
Based on my interview research, representing my target audience, Alexandra Chima will help humanise and allow me to fully empathise with her wants and needs to create a solution that solves her problem.
User Stories to Epics to Task Flows
What will this app do?
Centring myself as my persona, Alexandra Chima, 30 user stories were created and framed from her perspective, helping me to understand how to solve her pain points to meet her goals.
Organising the user stories into epics, I settled on a task to design for:
"I want to book an appointment online so that I do not have to wait in a long telephone queue"
Sketches to wireframes
Designing a solution
Sketching out ideas for the task flow, my aim with was to create a simple and easy to follow process to book and appointment though an app service.
I gathered inspiration to help me decide on how the design should look, keeping in mind possible functionality, features, UI style and interactions and overall structure and layout. I consolidated the most suitable ideas into a set of solution sketches to turn into wireframes.
Wireframing - Low-fi Prototype
Developing the low-fidelity prototype, I was concerned with setting the user experience and overall flow of the task flow to build the structure of the app through the use of familiar components and information hierarchy to help Alexandra, my persona accomplish her goals in the best possible way.
Developing the low-fidelity prototype, I was concerned with setting the user experience and overall flow of the task flow to build the structure of the app through the use of familiar components and information hierarchy to help Alexandra, my persona accomplish her goals in the best possible way.
How does it work
Usability Testing
Using my first set of wireframes, I conducted usability testing sessions with real users to observe and gather invaluable insights into how they interact with the prototype when booking a GP appointment as the goal of the task.
Using my first set of wireframes, I conducted usability testing sessions with real users to observe and gather invaluable insights into how they interact with the prototype when booking a GP appointment as the goal of the task.
I am looking to see if the process is easy and quick to use and identify any areas in the design, uncover opportunities for improvement and understand my Persona’s behaviour in real-time.
From the test sessions, I plotted the findings on a prioritisation matrix to organise the iteration process.
I conducted 2 rounds of user testing with 5 testers each round. Collating and synthesising the feedback, one major change was to recorder the flow by swapping 2 stages around. User thought that it
but overall the tasks were not a problem for my users to complete.
Iterate, iterate, iterate
Revised Design
Using my first set of wireframes, I conducted usability testing sessions with real users to observe and gather invaluable insights into how they interact with the prototype when booking a GP appointment as the goal of the task.
I am looking to see if the process is easy and quick to use and identify any areas in the design, uncover opportunities for improvement and understand my Persona’s behaviour in real-time.
From the test sessions, I plotted the findings on a prioritisation matrix to organise the iteration process.
Hover over the image below and see how it works
Future thinking
Next Steps
To continue refining this concept for First Point, there are some actions I would like to take:
• Create a log in and preferences page to allow my Persona to further customise her experience.
• Include a second task flow so more feedback can be collected on other areas of the prototype during testing.
• Continue with another round of user testing to evaluate the changes made.
• Add branding to the concept
• Create a log in and preferences page to allow my Persona to further customise her experience.
• Include a second task flow so more feedback can be collected on other areas of the prototype during testing.
• Continue with another round of user testing to evaluate the changes made.
• Add branding to the concept
What did I learn...
Takeaways
Through the process of this project I learnt many things, a few of these are:
• Improving patient experiences is such a board topic to explore and so many other variables need to be taken into account.
• Secondary research can only go so far to give you the information you need
• Interviewing people related to the problem space is key in understanding what the problem is and it's related issues
• Do not be afraid to make changes when developing a solution, it only makes the solution more refined and tailored to the user's needs
JM.