Designing a web app experience for clinic and pharmacy associates to increase efficiency, boost vaccine and service sales, and provide personalized patient experiences
Product Design
UI Design
Web App
Internship
Introduction
Associates are critical to a positive customer experience. However, the process for scheduling group appointments was inefficient. It was stressful for the busy pharmacy and clinic associates with various responsibilities.
I started this project as an assistant to the Patient Scheduler principal designer. However, I was allowed to take the lead on designing a solution.
My design, research, and presentation led to the project being prioritized for development in 2025. There is now a renewed and energized cross-functional commitment to improving the overall Patient Scheduler associate experience.
Product
Patient Scheduler — An internal-facing web app used by pharmacy and clinic associates to schedule appointments, manage patient information, and view daily and weekly appointment schedules.
Users
Pharmacy and clinic staff
Request
Give associates the ability to schedule a group of people for a service during a single time slot using the Patient Scheduler web app.
Problem
The current process for scheduling group appointments makes it difficult for associates to care for patients, impedes business goals, and inconveniences patients.
Associates find that scheduling individual appointments for each member of a group is time-consuming.
The business can't serve as many customers because the time blocked for the individually scheduled appointments adds up to more time than clinicians will need. This creates gaps in clinic schedules that could be used to see other patients.
It's challenging for families and associates to find sequential appointments.
Solution
An enhanced scheduling experience that streamlines scheduling for individual and group appointments — reducing gaps in clinic schedules, increasing the efficiency of associates, and allowing the business to deliver more services.
Process
Discovery & Research
Product Team Discovery Meetings
The product team and I defined the MVP and identified constraints.
Cross-Sector User Flow and Pattern Competitive Analysis
I examined healthcare and travel booking experiences to aid discovery and inform user flows and UI design.
Internal User Research Review
I reviewed previous user research. This eliminated the need to redo existing work. Importantly, the previous findings confirmed our problem statement.
Time to Schedule a Single Appointment:
40% = 4+ minutes
37% = 1-3 minutes
23% = less than 1 minute
User Flow Mapping and Design Jams
I created user flows, considering the various use cases and exploring different flows. I made decisions based on my competitive analysis findings and the previous research's insights.
Design & Testing
Wireframing and Team Feedback
My sketching and pattern reviews informed my low-fidelity wireframes. I presented them to my team often for feedback. This feedback helped refine my designs.
High-fidelity Mockups and Prototypes
I turned my low-fidelity wireframes into detailed mockups and an interactive prototype for usability testing.
Usability Testing and Synthesis
I designed a research plan and guide for usability testing. I synthesized the results and extracted insights and opportunities. The tests further confirmed the team’s hypothesis.
UI Design
I did multiple rounds of sketching and critique with my team to produce the final designs. I used Jakob's 10 Usability Heuristics and the Laws of UX as guides to ensure it was user-friendly.
Patient Search and Panel
Searching for a patient is the first step when scheduling an appointment. My design decisions aimed to:
Reduce cognitive load and recall
Provide feedback and visibility of system status
Give users more control, freedom, and flexibility
Reduce the visibility of less relevant information
Improve the product's visual aesthetics.
Linked Patients
I created the "Linked Patients" feature based on how customers can manage prescriptions for family members on the customer experience side of the business. Adding these connections to patient profiles could streamline family scheduling.
This would let the business provide more personalized care and allow associates to focus on customer service and other job duties.
Review and Eligibility Screen
The final steps in the scheduling process are reviewing the appointment details and confirming patients' eligibility.
My key change was merging the review and eligibility steps into a single screen to increase efficiency through fewer clicks.
Outcome and Value
Developing an associate group scheduling experience has been reprioritized and is planned to resume in January 2025.
Associates
Increased efficiency
Better prepared for appointments
Higher quality of care
Business
Increased vaccine and health service sales
Optimized use of associate and clinic time
Patients
Convenient and personalized care that accommodates their family and schedules
Next Steps
Prioritization of the development of an associate group scheduling feature
Status: Completed
Development of the Patient Scheduler group scheduling experience will begin in January 2025.
Metrics measuring success
Status: Not started
If looking at metrics to measure the success of this design, I would be interested in:
Employee sentiment
Time on task
Group appointment growth
Reflection
This project was about adaptability. My mentoring designer and I quickly needed to pivot when our work was put on hold. She moved forward with her other work, and I needed to decide where to focus my efforts to create the most value for my team.
Fortunately, my teammates were very supportive and allowed me to continue this project. This concept design project reinforced my understanding that things never go as planned and that flexibility and a clear vision are critical.
