Background.
Healius is one of Australia’s leading healthcare companies, having an expansive network of pathology laboratories, collection centres and diagnostic imaging centres. Their medical specialties focus on delivering the cause and nature of illnesses to the health of all Australians with the mission to deliver accurate and timely diagnostic services Australia-wide.
Healthcare systems in Australia and abroad are struggling with service access and demand, workforce shortages and staff burn out. With the recent pandemic, it is just the first of several successive waves of crises expected to place escalating pressure on the sector. Therefore the need to design more efficient systems and processes is paramount more than ever.
The objective.
In partnership with Healius, I was tasked to support the creation of future medical products, based, not only, on the changing needs of business and technologies but, importantly, around the staff and patients’ expectations. My task was to understand their user touch points, brand perception, user testing, and existing pain points for staff and patients to ultimately design solutions that were fully reflective of these specific medical needs.
To do this I worked heavily in understanding their user flows, user stories and current systems to elevate user experiences and design intuitively. I helped recognise the needs of staff and patients and bridge the gaps between their communication journey, pain points and perception.
The process.
Business (Healius diagnostic imaging)
Offering a wide range of radiology services Healius’ Lumus Imaging required renewed brand focused, enhanced system capabilities and communications between staff personnel and patients across Australia. I helped shape the vision for the business and was able to identify areas of priority for the needs of their different users. Studying the requirements of their users, I designed visual outcomes, providing high-quality mockup designs that addressed the gaps in their existing systems and communication, while strengthening brand awareness.
Human (real-world patients)
I reviewed and collaborated with radiology subject matter experts and technical teams when helping them to define and establish their user flows for different aspects to their radiology clerical management systems and processes. Our collaboration allowed us to have open discussions on system constraints, possibilities and solutions. I was involved in answering several user stories that highlighted the needs of staff across a system that would also enable them to effectively get through patient medical eReferrals.
Environment (Australia)
I was tasked with improving the current software for their eReferral management, named ‘Medicalis’, to better reflect the branding of Healius’ digital products. Some of the known challenges discovered included current system limitations and their disconnections, manual referral setup and processes, individual location site visibility, and double handling of patient appointments and calls. We conducted user testing with staff on prototyped solutions in order to reveal gaps in processes and address outstanding issues.
The Gap
Considering the findings from user testing, I endeavoured to meet staff and patient’s specific needs and solve their pain points. By conducting user testing with staff and gathering direct feedback, I identified changes in processes and technologies and made design recommendations for more efficient user interaction.
Above: Request Inbox containing all ‘new’, ‘to review’, and ‘ready to book’ imaging referrals
Above: Referral details – Desktop XL – 1920px wide
Above: Referral details – Desktop L – 1440px wide
Above: Referral details – Desktop M – 1280px wide (collapsed nav)
Above: Referral details – Desktop S – 905px wide (collapsed nav)
The Outcome.
The process inspired not just a reconfiguration of the current system through design solutions but kicked off the initial phase of a transformational project focused on improved communications between users and systems.
Related Projects.
