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Overview

Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY) is the largest not-for-profit home- and community-based health care organization in the United States, serving the five boroughs of New York City. The healthcare provider gets 50% of its daily calls from patients that require its central command center team to attend and check on the clinician's visit status. The organization, on any given day, has nearly 40,000 patients, and the number is only increasing during COVID-19. Patients are eager to know clinician details, including their current estimated visit time for the scheduled appointment.

Problem Statement

They were facing challenges in coordinating with nurses/clinicians, and patients to manage appointments, locations & feedback. There was no mechanism to check the status and location of clinicians in the field.

Goals

The healthcare organization wanted to create a command center dashboard that not only meets the growing demand but also increases capacity while delivering an improved patient and clinician experience.

My Role

User Research, Interaction, Visual design, Prototyping & Testing

Project Duration

10

Weeks

90+

Website screens

35+

App screens

Tools Used

Figma

XD

Miro

Google Form

Zoom

Design Process

Discover

Difine

Ideate

Design

Test

User Research

Empathy Map

User Flow

Wireframes

Feedbacks

Test & Iterate

Test & Iterate

User Interviews

User Personas

User Journey Maps

Information Architecture

Hi-Fi Designs

Prototype

Conclusion

01 DISCOVER

Interview Goals

  • I wanted to understand common challenges Admin face in Scheduling an appointment for the patients & tracking nurses on the field.

  • I wanted to understand common challenges Nurses face trying to manage appointments.

  • I wanted to identify frustrations Patients experience during the process of booking an appointment & tracking Nurse arrival times.

  • I wanted to understand common challenges Admin face in Scheduling an appointment for the patients & tracking nurses on the field.

  • I wanted to understand common challenges Nurses face trying to manage appointments.

  • I wanted to identify frustrations Patients experience during the process of booking an appointment & tracking Nurse arrival times.

Stakeholder Interview Questions

Even after receiving a Creative Brief for the project, stakeholder interviews are still required. because it helps in decision-making, helps to avoid last-minute disappointments, and allows for revisions to create the ideal result . Here are some questionnaires:

Q1. What is the business objective of the project?

Q2. What are the goals of the project?

Q3. Who are the biggest competitors?

Q4. Who are the end users?

Q5. What are tasks to be performed by users?

Q6. Is any user research have been already done?

Q7. Are these user group available for discussion?

Q8. Do you have any Branding Guideline to be followed?

Q9. Any specific device that you are looking for compatibility?

Q10. Any do’s and don’ts?

Qualitative Analysis

I interviewed some of the Nurses and Admin of VNSNY to know their daily routine and the challenges they face. I interviewed them over video calls & phone calls using Zoom, Whatsapp & Google duo platforms. In total there were 8 participants for each with whom I got an opportunity to talk & gather some insights about their challenges & motivations.

 

Here are a few general questions that I included in all the interactions:

User Interview Questions – Admin

  1. May I know how your typical workday start?

  2. What are the task you perform on daily basis?

  3. How patients book an appointment currently?

  4. How patient reach out to VNSNY for any type of required support?

  5. How do you currently communicate with the nurses on field?

  6. How do you remind patient for upcoming appointments?

  7. How much time do you typically spend on attending calls from patients?

  8. How often delay in appointment happen?

  9. What is your immediate action when an appointment get delayed?

  10. What is the biggest pain point related to your job?

  11. What type of work arounds have you created to help you with this?

  12. How you manage the records & reports?

User Interviews Questions – Nurse

  1. May I know how your typical workday start?

  2. What are the task you perform on daily basis?

  3. How do you get appointment details (Start of the day or in-between)?

  4. How do you currently communicate with the admin?

  5. How you commute to patient’s place?

  6. How often patient directly reaches you?

  7. How much time do you typically spend with patient?

  8. How often delay in appointment happen?

  9. What is your immediate action when an appointment get delayed?

  10. What is the biggest pain point related to your job?

  11. What type of work arounds have you created to help you with this?

  12. How you manage the records & reports?

Quantitative Analysis

I conducted an online poll using Google Forms to look for any trends or commonalities in the possible user needs. The survey received over 42 responses, which helped me properly frame the issue.

​

Given below is the google form I prepared for the user research.

Page 1 of 1

Submit

Analysis Of The Responses Recieved

When was the last homecare visit form VNSNY staff nurse?

How was your experience of booking an appointment?

What is the biggest pain point in getting an appointment?

How you get an VNSNY nurse appointment?

How much time it will take to book an appointment?

How do you currently communicate with the VNSNY staff?

How often delay in appointments happen?

Gathering Insights

I always like to get checked while staying at home

It would be beneficial if there were a facility where I could prepare for my initial visit.

I like to get notified when my appointment is confirmed

I like to track clinicians & get notified clinicians' current estimated visit time

I like to have call/chat with clinician about appointment

I like to have option to cancel or reschedule appointment

What Are The Pain Points?

kept waiting on the call for a long time to book an appointment

Try calling multiple times to get connected

Takes too much time to confirm appointment

I'm not sure when my next appointment is

Don't have option to know clinician exact visit time

Don't have option to call/chat with clinician to know their status

02

 DEFINE

Empathy Mapping

I applied the empathy mapping method to learn more about user behaviors and choices. The knowledge we have about a specific sort of user is expressed through a collaborative representation called an empathy map. It externalizes user knowledge to 1) create a clear understanding of user needs, and 2) support decision-making.

Clinician

Patient

Empathy Map (3).jpg

Scheduler

User Personas

Based on the target user group and all the data collected throughout the research, I came up with three separate User Personas. Three characters that I was able to create to represent the website's targeted user groups

Clinician

Bio

Grace Daniel is an aspiring Clinician who lives with her partner and a kid. Grace often travels to patients home, which is her daily routine. She wants a way to see information about appointments for the day, notify patients about her visit time, & updating complated visit details. She would be most comfortable visiting next patient home.

Goals

  • Find a way to know how many appointments scheduled, completed, missed, & pending 

  • Find a way to notify patients to confirm the visit and let them know of her arrival

  • Get notified when a new appointment is scheduled & rescheduled

  • Find a way to update completed appointment details

“I want to make patient’s life easier by providing hurdle free doorstep service “

Frustrations

  • Need to move visits frequently to accommodate changes

  • Not able to give exact visit times to patients

  • Many missed appointments as a result of inadequate information

Grace Daniel

Age: 26

Education: Graduate

Status: Married

Location: USA

Occupation: Clinician

Patient

Bio

Sara Jacob is an enthusiastic Teacher who lives with her Son and Grandson. The family recently adopted two dogs, Her busy schedule prevents her from visiting a hospital. Sara wants to find a way to book an appointment and get checked while staying at home. she would be most comfortable booking someone who knows how to properly care for Sara.

Goals

  • Get a way to book someone consistently

  • Should be able to schedule appointments in advance

  • Get appointment notification, clinician visit time, and the ability to chat/call with clinician

"Passionately enthusiastic about books, books are better than Social media or digital media"

Frustrations

  • Don’t have an option to know the visit time, any schedule change, etc, call/chat with nurses

  • Tired of calling to find out when her's next appointment is and no one can tell 

  • Keep waiting on the call with Scheduler for a long time just to know the clinician’s status

Sara Jacob

Ellipse 23.png

Age: 59

Education: Master

Status: Married

Location: USA

Occupation: Teacher

Admin/Scheduler

Michael Lucas

Ellipse 22.png

Age: 31

Education: Master

Status: Married

Location: USA

Occupation: Scheduler

"I Want to provide seamless experience
to Patients & Clinicians"

Bio

Michael Lucas is a Scheduler who lives with his wife and a kid. He wants a way of having access to appointment information at his fingertips like how many appointments are scheduled, missed, cancelled and pending

Goals

  • Find a way to check how many appointments have been scheduled

  • Find a way to determine the number of clinicians who are available that day and the number of appointments each clinician has

  • Find a way to track Clinician status

  • Able to notify patients about clinician visit time

Frustrations

  • Don’t have visibility into how many visits are assigned to a clinician

  • There is a lack of consistent documentation around schedule changes

  • Communication methods & consistency vary across teams

  • Difficulty in deciding who has the time and is in a location that fits the visit when a new visit needs to be assigned

  • Not able to reach out Clinician when schedule change request by patient

User Journey Mapping

I created a customer journey map based on user research to better understand the key pain points, challenges, behaviors, and overall journey users may have when making appointments. also, make a list of the opportunities

User Journey map Grace Daniel.png
User Journey map Sara Jacob (1).png
User Journey map Scheduler.png

03

 IDEATE

User Flow

A user flow is a path taken by a typical user on an app or website so they can complete a task from start to finish, The goal is to map how users achieve a specific goal as they move through a product

Information Architecture

Information architecture organizes and defines the overall structure of the app or the site & it provides a high-level view of a product. The goal of IA is to arrange content so that users can quickly become familiar with the product's functionality and find whatever they need

Information Architecture (VNSNY) (1).png

04

 DESIGN

Wireframing

Based on feedback and personal insights I learned from the sketching phase, I began to design my first wireframes using Figma. I made sure to prioritize the features that would best address the needs of the users throughout the website.

1. Nurse Tracking.png
2. Nurse Tracking.png
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2.png
3.png

Hi-Fi UI Design

I produced the final UI Design prototype based on all of the User Research & Analysis. Here are some of my early experiments with this potential visual aesthetic. Simpleness, originality, and tradition are the three fundamental principles I wanted the visual design to emphasize. I also developed a mobile application to allow patients to call/chat with nurses, track the location of nurses, & see future appointments.

Picture 1.png
2. Track Nurse.png
Picture 3.png
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05

 TEST

Usability Test

I tested the prototype with FIVE representative users after the UI design was finished to determine how user-friendly the application is. The following tasks were assigned to participants during the test, which was conducted using Zoom video calls, and I observed how they used the application.

Assigned Tasks

  • Track the current location of the assigned clinician

  • Chat with a clinician to know about when they are reaching for the appointment

  • Provide feedback about the services provided by the clinician

Findings

  • The navigation and app flow is straightforward and simple for users to memorize.

  • The chatbot icon should be present on every screen of the app instead of just the Home Screen.

  • The visibility of the feedback rating should be improved so that users can tap more easily.

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