Antara

User Research in Healthcare

Clarifying a new telehealth market and patient needs for their care.

I was lead UX researcher and a product designer, where I partnered on strategies, led research, led design and established both a design, documentation and development process.

FOR
Antara Health.

COLLABORATION
Co-founders, Product Manager, Developers, Designers

UNDERSTANDING THE DOMAIN

01 Methods

  1. Qualitative research

  2. Quantitative research

  3. Prototyping

  4. Co-design

02 Problems

Without knowledge of the healthcare system, understanding of advocacy paths or policies as well as delivery of care when access to a clinic or hospital is not possible, accessing reliable accurate and on-time healthcare is a challenge.

03 Goals

  1. Identify the critical paths for care interception

  2. Identify the paths of resolution that patients have made workarounds for

  3. Establish the market need and capability for telehealth support

  4. Identify challenges in the delivery of telehealth

  5. Provide patients with intuitive access to management of disease

04 Research

Interviews

Conducted interviews with patients, caregivers, clinicians, doctors, insurance companies, employers

Insights

  • Caregivers are the main points of contact on behalf of a patient

  • Employers want their employees to have access to supportive healthcare

  • Patients’ information access and knowledge for advocacy are limited

  • Patients’ first stop for healthcare is traditional medicine and at-home alternatives

  • The system is overwhelming and confusing

Data analysis

Identified percentage of smartphone users to non-smartphone users, reviewed Ministry of Health data on disease management and medical records storage,

Insights

  • While the patients may not have smartphones, their caregivers do and have excellent command of use.

  • Regulations on medical records and information share

  • National practices for some disease management and health plan are available for access

Card sorting

Included card-sorting exercises in some interviews and conducted separate card-sorting exercises

Insights

  • Noted associated words by the patients,

  • understood the information processing model,

  • concerns that different stakeholders had

Concept testing

Presented stakeholders with different scenarios in storyboard format to understand further what their needs are

Insights

  • Identified tolerant thresholds of patients and their caregivers regarding:

    • Format of information shared

    • Communication

    • Preferences

    • Concerns about advocacy and access to healthcare professionals

 

05 Design: Mobile App

Great telehealth combines digital access to care and in-person service delivery. Covid limited the movement of patients to visit their doctors or make a physical appointment at a healthcare facility. Antara had solved this last mile and at-home delivery for patients, including delivery of medicine, vitals measurement, non-invasive tests, and more.

A mobile application emerged as the best channel to offer this solution. Providing the patient with information as they search for resolution or management plans, as they manage their disease, prepare for self-advocacy at a healthcare facility, track records and medication, and still be able to consult with a doctor, clinician, or other healthcare professional. This channel would give both patients and their caregivers direct access to a professional as well as additional information for care.

The healthcare professional at Antara would also need a way to track communication, share information, view medical records, and see management plans that a patient was on. This would ensure seamless communication between the patient and the healthcare team, especially in managing persistent and sensitive diseases. A platform to share care information created by healthcare professionals that would be personalized to the concerns of the patient elevates the patients health care.

A sitemap ensured that the information architecture is intuitive and clear.

 

06 Design: Mobile App

From userflows for different journeys, I designed the wireframes below.

Onboarding for the patient onto the Antara App

Self-Screening flow that provides care team with intial information about the patient’s health

Information about who the care team is and a path to setting up an appointment with an Navigator (advocacy) or other healthcare professionals and specialists

 

The evolvement of the design to its current state is below.
The onboarding process and highlight of the additional features within the application

Patient and caregives can manage their plans and documents associated

It is easy to manage multiple profiles in one account and application, e.g. anyone with dependents

Managing the vitals of a patients over time

Easy access to the relevant concerns the patient might have

 

06 Design: Scribe

Initial Dashboard wireframes for the healthcare professionals at Antara as they managed Patient information and care plans.

 

The evolvement of the design to its current state is below

Dashboard page for a patient

Actions are handy for information input when communicating live with a patient or their caregiver

Easy to manage multiple actions, to support the natural speaking prose of a patient. A healthcare professional is able to input information that differs without needing to switch dashboards