What is Healthcare UX and Why is it so Important

August 17, 2022

The healthcare industry is one of the most rapidly evolving sectors in the world. This has increased the need for digital solutions to help people access medical services and information. As such, many are now considering user-experience design as part of their overall strategy when it comes to delivering these solutions because of its ability to engage patients and improve their overall experience when interacting with the system. In this article, we will explore how UX can help telehealth providers achieve their objectives and why it’s crucial.

Healthcare UX

The User Experience (UX) of healthcare is very different from that of other industries, making it difficult to determine what is effective and what isn’t while designing a healthcare app. Healthcare UX has two main components: the patient experience and the experience of medical professionals with the application.

A great healthcare UX is a combination of both. The patient experience has to be engaging and easy to navigate, while the design should be functional and intuitive. A great example of this is DocPlanner, an app that makes it easy for patients to find doctors around them based on reviews from others. Healthcare UX is important because it affects patients’ and doctors’ experiences and outcomes.

Johns Hopkins researchers found that medical mistakes cause the deaths of approximately 250,000 Americans each year. Several potential causes exist for these mistakes, but a well-designed UX may go a long way toward preventing them.

Challenges for Healthcare UX

Healthcare UX challenges, one of which is how to best design your patient communication channels. Healthcare UX has a lot to do with patients’ experiences. This can be difficult because doctors and nurses are often simultaneously trying to deliver care, collect data and monitor patient health.

To make matters even more complicated, patients are often not provided with the information they need about their options. There is a possibility that they are unaware of what is going on or unsure about their next step. The result: many leave confused or unsatisfied with their care experience.

To combat these issues, healthcare designers work hard on creating technology-driven tools that help patients understand their diagnoses and treatment plans while giving them greater control over their health care decisions. By doing so, they hope these new systems will improve communication between clinicians and patients as well as provide better access to relevant information before each patient interaction takes place – and ultimately lead to higher rates of patient engagement in future visits!

1. Patient Engagement

Nearly three-quarters (72%) of HCO executives see digital consumer engagement as becoming increasingly crucial to their company in the future.

The way a healthcare organization communicates with patients can have a huge impact on their experience and satisfaction. In case of a patient’s issue or concern, they’ll want to be able to contact someone who can help them as soon as possible. For this, there should be an efficient way for patients to communicate with doctors. Moreover, the design should be simple enough for users who aren’t computer savvy or have limited means to access this information through devices like tablets and phones without difficulty.

The first step in ensuring that patients have a good experience with their healthcare provider is ensuring the telehealth app has a great UX. This means the following:

The patient is now actively involved in their care due to these technologies. They have a strong motivation to monitor and better their health because of this. Insurance companies can improve their risk assessments of their clients by using data collected from wearable devices.

Easy Accessibility

Make sure that individuals are able to easily find and access information about you, from anywhere, at any time (whether it be on social media or through search engines), and in any format (mobile friendly).

Easy Navigation

Make sure that visitors have an intuitive way of navigating through all the different pages on your site without getting lost or confused by too many options or elements on each page/screen. Use clear headings and links; don’t overload users with too many buttons/tabs/etc., especially when trying to find something specific like an appointment time or medical records request form.

2. Communication between patients and healthcare providers

Patients and healthcare providers have different goals when they communicate. The patient’s goal is to understand their diagnosis, treatment plan, and any other information related to their health; this is what they want from the healthcare provider. In contrast, the healthcare provider wants to ensure that the patient understands all of this information; this is what they need from their patients.

Because of these different goals, it can be challenging for both parties to get what they want from interactions with each other (and vice versa). Designers need to consider these different goals when designing systems that help patients communicate with healthcare providers or vice versa; otherwise, there may be issues such as miscommunication or frustration on either side.

3. Patients Need Feedback

According to a survey, 65% of patients emphasize the need to retain their own health information.

Patients must receive feedback on how well their health is doing so they know what improvements they should make in their lifestyle habits (i.e., diet, exercise) or medical conditions (i.e., hypertension). Providing regular reminders about these things will help keep them engaged in improving their overall health outcomes over time, leading us to a very important point: patient satisfaction.

4. Difficult Tasks Made Easier

Paperwork, complicated legacy systems, sluggish communication, and a dizzying array of processes and steps are still commonly associated with healthcare, even in the most advanced nations. That’s frustrating for everyone involved, of course.

As a result, UX designers in the healthcare industry must find ways to simplify complex problems and speed up care delivery. It’s simpler to say than to execute, especially considering the many monetary, administrative, and social obstacles that stand in the way.

However, we can’t say that all doors have been closed regarding UX design. Making tools more accessible means making them easier to use in general, from the navigation and usability aspects to the assistive functionality, the enhancement and enabling of communication, the minimization of the process, and the reduction of distractions and needless processes.

5. Empowering Patients

For a long time, only doctors and other medical professionals have had the education and experience to comprehend the meaning of various medical tests and procedures. Improvements in user interfaces and automated algorithms have made it possible to provide patients with their own medical results in a form that is both direct and straightforward. Knowing what a user means by “simple” and “intuitive” is difficult, as is keeping in mind the genuine fear and distress that might come with receiving medical results.

6. Smart Use of New Tech

Though we have the opportunity to revolutionize healthcare with the help of cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual or augmented reality (VR/AR), we must be cautious in our application of these techniques to ensure that they provide genuine value to the end users. Even while it’s generally assumed that a product of this type must incorporate cutting-edge features, our greatest challenge is always to put the customer first and use cutting-edge tech only in those cases when it would improve service to our customers.

42% of American consumers say they use technology to measure fitness and manage health-improvement goals.

Conclusion

Healthcare UX is a growing field that is helping to improve the patient experience by ensuring they have access to the right information in a timely manner. By understanding how patients interact with their health care providers, we can better anticipate their needs in order to support their ability to make decisions about their care. Healthcare providers have more time to focus on what matters: helping people stay healthy!

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