Canadian healthcare provides universal access to everyone who meets the minimum residency requirements. Typically, patients access healthcare services through their designated family doctors. However, there are a lot of patients without family physicians attached to them due to shortage. Therefore, patients without a family physician have no other choice but to visit walk-in clinics.
However, many patients are confused about getting the walk-in clinic information because the information is unreliable and very limited. Therefore, the quality of patient care is often not met with the patient's expectations.
This report provides a comprehensive analysis of how to enhance the walk-in clinic selection for the Patients First aim.
The objective is to understand what pain points decrease Canadian patients' satisfaction with the walk-in clinic by investigating the barriers to obtaining proper treatments and services.
By discovering problems through the research, I expect patients can access the walk-in clinic with more confidence and improve healthcare outcome and patient satisfaction. Also, a better quality of healthcare service from clinicians and clinic employees is expected by determining what patients expect from the walk-in clinic.
2022. OCT 16 - 30 (2 Weeks)
Solo student project for BrainStation UX BootCamp
Mobile, iOS
The Commonwealth Fund’s 2021 report comparing the healthcare systems of 11 developed countries ranked Canada in 10th place, ahead of the United States, which was at the very bottom.
Based on Research, the Problem is Lack of Accessibility, Equity, and Administrative Efficiency are the main barriers that decrease healthcare outcome and patient satisfaction.
How can we increase patient satisfaction of Canadian healthcare?
Let’s narrow down and focus on the Walk-in Clinic: Why do patients go to Walk-in Clinics?
Patients have no other choice but to visit walk-in clinics due to the family doctor shortage and unexpectedly long ER wait times.
The objective is to understand what pain points decrease Canadian patients' satisfaction with the walk-in clinic by investigating the barriers to obtaining proper treatments and services.
By discovering problems through the research, I expect patients can access the walk-in clinic with more confidence and improve healthcare outcome and patient satisfaction. Also, a better quality of healthcare service from clinicians and clinic employees is expected by determining what patients expect from the walk-in clinic.
I believe that patients want better walk-in clinic information, but resources are not accurate and create confusion. It decreases clinic service satisfaction and reduces the chance of obtaining proper treatments and services.
I will know I’m right when I receive the following feedback from the user: At least 2 out of 3 user interview participants confirmed they are overwhelmed with getting walk-in clinic information and want to have a better experience in walk-in clinics to gain better health outcomes and get more positive clinic experiences.
People have to visit walk-in clinics because they don’t have any other option. But they have specific criteria when they choose one.
People want to get better walk-in clinic information but resources are not accurate and create confusion.
People don't know the existence of some advanced treatment without referrals at walk-in clinics (Podiatry, women’s health, or private pay services) because lack of information.
Primary Research Methodology
I conducted decontextualized user interviews to validate assumptions and discover key insights based on their pain points, behaviors, and goals.
Participants Criteria
Interview Guide
After creating participant criteria and recruiting three interview participants, I predefined interview questions to structure my generative user interviews.
Interview QuestionsGathered data by conducting the interview and assessing each relevant statement to identify key data points. I group data points by pain points, motivations and behaviors to determine key themes.
Interview Script“I don’t like to check the clinic’s website because every website looks different, and the options are different—too much hassle. But I have to check their website to confirm clinic detail instructions, which I can’t find on Google Maps.”
“The walk-in clinic information online is incorrect, not up-to-date, and unreliable. I have to check every detail; otherwise, I don't know what to get or expect. Ended up just calling them.”
“I want to manage and plan my day. I can't plan anything when I visit a walk-in clinic. I don't know what I expect. If people can manage their day, many people are less pissed off.”
How might we make it easier for patients in Canada to have reliable and accurate information about walk-in clinics that meet the patient's expectations to gain better health outcomes?
To get a specific and consistent understanding of various audience groups, I create a realistic and reliable representation of my key user groups. By creating a persona, I expect a clear picture of my primary user group’s major needs and expectations.
Next, I defined the functionality of a potential digital solution that increases the user’s walk-in clinic experience. In this phase, I identified a set of user stories by patients and clinic staff to translate synthesized research to build a deeper understanding of user goals and the specific desired functionalities.
Through the research, I discovered that patients want to get reliable and accurate walk-in clinic information. I selected searching and finding information as a core epic because consistent and concise searching results can help patients access the precise information they are looking for.
Patients want to share their walk-in clinic experience with others who may need it. Also, clinic staff may want to confirm whether the reviewer actually visited their clinic to increase transparency.
Patients want to share their walk-in clinic experience with others who may need it. Also, clinic staff may want to confirm whether the reviewer actually visited their clinic to increase transparency.
Patients want to get recently updated clinic information online, so they don’t have to call to confirm. Also, clinic staff want to easily update their news online, which helps to reduce the time to answer basic questions and phone calls.
After identifying user stories, I pick a core epic by understanding user goals and specific desired functionality. Next, I determined the main task flow that users expect and want to achieve through my digital solution.
Before starting sketches, I created an InVision UI inspiration board to brainstorm the idea, including UI components, patterns, and interactions that will benefit the user in completing the job they need to do.
InVision UI Board
After getting inspired by the UI board, I sketched my main task flow on 5 screens. I sketched 3 different versions and made one solution sketch.
I plan to conduct usability tests with five users in order to obtain practical, real-time feedback that can be incorporated to improve the design in order to provide a more optimal user experience.
Scenario: Imagine you are looking for a walk-in clinic where female doctor available, and you want to book an appointment online in advance.
During the user test, I found patterns that made testers confused. All the participants completed tasks but hesitated before taking action when they started some tasks.
I learned how to conduct the usability test and find key insight from users' feedback. Especially Design Prioritization Matrix navigated me to set the priority of the design iteration and what I should mainly focus on. I needed to figure out how to measure success and failure for the user testing result since all the participants completed five tasks. But I made my own measurements based on the feedback from TA. (successfully completed a task without confusion / completed a task but hesitated before taking action.) It helped me to make a better decision to revise the design and increase the app's usability.
During the Patient First project, I learned the whole user experience design process focused on users’ problems. Since this project is a school project and I can’t measure the real-world impact of the app, I got positive feedback from testers and feel confident about my next UX design journey!
If I have more time to work on this project, I will...
1. Conduct the second round of usability test and revise the design
2. Make a full design system