Overview
OneView is an electronic health record that equips DaVita-credentialed healthcare professionals with tools to manage kidney disease patients. There is a growing need to access patient data outside of the dialysis treatment centers, so increasing mobile adoption and retention have been key initiatives. This project aims to optimize Nephrologists' medical charting workflows by simplifying how patient data is accessed.
My Role
Designer
Researcher
Collaborators
1 UX Researcher
1 Product Manager
3 Engineers
Year
2024
“This is a disaster, you cannot check all labs at once. You need to open one tab, view the result, then close, then open a new section, and then review and then close, […] just for one patient.”
— Doctor D., OneView user
On a typical weekday, Nephrologists assess 30 patients across 3 treatment centers. They only have about 4 minutes per person. The existing lab display required them to navigate between up to 8 different screens, which slowed down their workflows during time-sensitive encounters. Such workflow inefficiencies frustrate users and diminish time that is better spent tending to the patient.
How might we reduce the navigation effort nephrologists exert when assessing multiple patients’ lab results?
To address this issue, I focused on reducing users’ “click fatigue” by redesigning the display of patients’ fluids, vitals, and labs, and validating the solution with research.
Goals
For this redesign to be successful, it needed to achieve the following:
Reduce the number of taps required to assess all of a patient's lab results during an encounter.
Achieve an NPS score of 40+ and positive feedback from users.
Constraints
Due to project timelines and limitations, data that did not fit the existing table structure, such as Microbiology labs and new data visualization techniques were excluded from the redesign. I prioritized enhancements that would have a high positive impact on the user experience and require less technical effort.
I explored the idea of consolidating the labs into one screen as a way to streamline the navigation and reduce clicks. The following concepts were used to spark discussions with stakeholders about the different ways we can present the new labs screen.
Anchor buttons for quick navigation to each care category
Ability to search for labs & a singular table for all care categories
Vertical menu button arrangement and a singular “Labs” button
How I Navigated Conflicting Stakeholder Feedback
While some stakeholders were on board with my idea to consolidate the screens, others felt that it was the wrong approach. Alternatively, they suggested keeping the labs in separate screens and adding a new screen that highlights labs that users frequent. I was concerned that this approach would add redundancy and complicate users' workflow.
My Response: I reiterated users' goals and pain-points while acknowledging the validity of their dissenting perspective. Given that my idea of consolidating the screens would be a drastic change, I framed their idea as an opportunity to gather data that would give us better insight on the best direction and incorporated it in a usability study.
I conducted a usability test and concept test in collaboration with a UX researcher. These methods best suited our interest in identifying major usability issues, assessing users' task completion, and gauging the perception of the new design before its launch. Since this was an early-stage exploration, the small sample sizes sufficed.
Study 1: Patient Menu & Labs Usability Test
Study 2: Patient Menu Concept Test
My Rationale for Combining Both Menu Concepts
Initially, I proposed Concept B as the final solution, based on the research insights, design goals, and Hick’s Law (which suggests fewer choices improve decision-making speed). However, I wanted to ensure that what users claimed they wanted aligned with their actual needs. As a result, I refined the menu to support both concepts. I plan on tracking users' engagement with the buttons to see which pathway is utilized more often.
“Watch what people actually do. Do not believe what people say they do. Definitely don’t believe what people predict they may do in the future.”
— Jakob Nielson, NN/g
There are multiple entry points into the All Results screen. By default, the care category buttons are hidden, but when expanded, users can select a category to automatically be directed to.
I utilized accordions to distill the care categories into a single view, which allows users to target data they are seeking and dive deeper when needed. This also improves performance since the data loads whem the accordion expands.
This solution will be released in phases. The MVP was released in Fall 2024, the full release is planned for Spring 2025.
MVP Release
In the MVP, users still have access to the old lab screens in addition to the new one. By consolidating most of the lab results into one screen, the number of clicks required to access the data decreased by about half. There was in increase in customer satisfaction as indicated by the NPS score increase from 38 to 46 the month after its release, surpassing our goal of 40.
Future Release
In the Spring release, the new menu will be available and the old lab screens will be removed. We will collect users' feedback via in-app survey then.
This is a Starting Point in an Iterative Process
While there is potential to deliver an even better user experience, I view this project as significant step forward in an iterative process. At this stage, it was most important to deliver high-impact and lower effort solutions in order to provide the most value to users and the business at this time. But, looking beyond the navigational changes, there is opportunity to explore how we can make the data more insightful for users so that it's easier identify factors that put patients at-risk for negative health outcomes.
Empathy is Essential in Driving Stakeholder Alignment
Empathy is paramount to driving team alignment when there are conflicting stakeholder visions. I found value in exploring the ideas that countered my own. It pushed me to rethink my approach and dig deeper. Sometimes the solution is not A or B, it may lie somewhere in the middle.