HuskyCare: Designing for Balance
This case study spans two quarters of HCDE 302 & 303: Foundations of Human-Centered Design & Engineering. In the first ten weeks, we conducted in-depth research on our problem statement, culminating in a presentation to industry professionals. The second course builds on this foundation, focusing on designing a product informed by our research from the previous quarter.
Seattle, WA
7 months
UX Research, UX Design
3
Challenge
At the beginning of the quarter, we were assigned the topic of balance and grouped based on our chosen area of impact. My team found a shared passion for improving patient experience in healthcare. With this general idea, we decided to focus on UW students as users, a population that would be accessible for us for user testing.
Results
The result is a completed mobile interface prototype that simulates the process scheduling an appointment with a provider, finding resources regarding healthcare, and managing prescriptions.
USER JOURNEY MAP
Phase 1: Research
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
After settling on our problem statement, we got to work researching existing solutions. This strategy allowed us to identify how competitors met or failed to meet user needs. It also helped us make sure that we didn't reinvent the wheel by designing something that already exists and is effective.
Helps users find healthcare providers nearby that accept their insurance
App to manage healthcare appointments, request refills, and securely track medical history
Digital health platform to help manage medications and treatments
INSIGHTS
UW students have access to on-campus healthcare that is not open to the public (i.e Husky Health) however these products like ZocDoc and Medisafe do not include the locations that are most convenient, and potentially cost-effective to students
These apps also focus on either specific providers or tasks in the healthcare space, but there is not an all-in-one service to manage all medical necessities at once
These healthcare management applications don’t integrate with external calendars to allow patients to make appointments that work with their schedule. Automatically syncing appointments can reduce the number of applications a user needs to interact with.
PERSONAS
PARTICIPANTS
2/3
In-State
INTERVIEW FINDINGS
USER INTERVIEWS
To gain a better understanding of the struggles students experience when trying to access healthcare throughout the school year, we conducted a set of user interviews.
Our team conducted a total of three interviews, ranging from 25-35 minutes. Participants were recruited by team members messaging students known to be within our inclusion criteria. We required participants to be UW students who have sought medical care at some point during our time at UW. Though all interview participants were undergraduates, we included graduate students in our target user group.
“Sometimes I don't get my vaccines because they make me sick sometimes; I got sick from flu shots and COVID shots previously” -AO1
Getting vaccines presented an expected challenge for participants in terms of side effects. Our participants noted that feeling sick after getting a vaccine presents a particular challenge as it often prevents them from being able to go to class or get work done.
VACCINE SIDE EFFECTS
TIME CONSTRAINTS
"So it's totally stressful in the sense, I need to make sure I schedule these appointments with enough time to travel to them and I'm not late. But also schedule in a time where it's not too inconvenient for homework and getting stuff done outside of the doctor" - MW1
All three of our participants mentioned that time constraints interfered with their willingness to seek healthcare. Interviewees expressed concern about the time they spent scheduling, attending, and traveling to appointments because it interfered with time for studying. Participants found themselves feeling stressed and overwhelmed when considering how long it would take to see to their medical necessities.
UNEXPECTED COSTS
Two of our participants shared that they have had medical appointments that were more expensive than they had previously thought. One participant that after going to the on-campus clinic that it was out-of-network for their insurance. Another participant shared that they were surprised at the cost of their physical therapy appointments, as they assumed insurance would cover a larger portion of the cost.
"Yeah, I could have basically been going somewhere else for a lot cheaper than the two years out of that Hall Health, which sucked. Yeah, I think also I didn't realize it. Also, my dad didn't realize it, because, I mean, nobody had gotten to UW med before." -MW1
ABOUT
Jordan is a 3rd year Psychology student at the University of Washington. He is an out-of-state student. He has a busy schedule: balancing classes, his health, and his extracurriculars. He also a chronic illness and needs to stay on top of his health needs in order to be productive in other areas of his life.
Jordan
(he/him)
GOALS
Stay up-to-date on all health needs while limiting the amount of school he misses
PAIN POINTS
Lots of medical appointments make it difficult to not skip classes (hard to schedule around classes)
The closest doctor’s office is out of network for his insurance meaning he have to travel far to get affordable care
NEEDS
Needs to be able to manage vaccine appointments
A way to easily keep track of medical needs on top of work and school
PERSONALITY
Low Parental Support
High Parental Support
Low awareness
High awareness
Light course load
Heavy course load
Public Transport
Access to a car
Prioritizes School
Prioritizes Health
ABOUT
Alex is a 3rd year engineering student at the University of Washington. She is from the Seattle area and her family lives about a 30 minute drive away. She has busy schedule with classes, homework, clubs, and work in a research lab. She knows she has a good insurance but isn’t sure exactly what it covers.
GOALS
Create a better work life balance to improve her mental health
Catch up on vaccinations she has missed due to schoolwork
NEEDS
An easy way to get healthcare information
PAIN POINTS
It takes time to schedule appointments and attend them; being so busy with exams, she often prioritizes her academic schedule over healthcare
Needs to coordinate to parents schedule for transport to appointments
PERSONALITY
Low Parental Support
High Parental Support
Low awareness
High awareness
Light course load
Heavy course load
Public Transport
Access to a car
Prioritizes School
Prioritizes Health
Alex
(she/her)
Based on our interview findings, we developed two personas with distinct needs and goals.
NEXT PHASE: IDEATION
1/3
Health Struggles
2/3
Stem Major
Phase 2: Ideation
Based on the the pain points we identified during user research, we began brainstorming potential solutions.
Each of us developed 3 strong solutions to share with the rest of the team.
Solution 1: Integrated Scheduling
Solution #3: Prescription Lockers
Solution 2: Appointment Chatbot
After our individual brainstorming sessions, we came together to share our ideas. From this session, we combined and fleshed out our potential solutions, narrowing them to three solutions that we believed had the most potential.
To reduce the mental load of appointment scheduling for students, we wanted to integrate students’ schedules with the available appointments at the Husky Health Center. This would allow students’ to quickly book appointments online by only recommending options that fit within their busy schedules.
Hold times, confusion around insurance, and difficulties scheduling made it increasingly frustrating and time consuming for students to prioritize their healthcare. This solution aims to eliminate these struggles by providing an interactive bot that can easily answer questions and schedule appointments at any time that is convenient for the patients. It additionally eliminates the need to wait to speak with a representative or call multiple providers.
Final Solution
After our team consulted with experienced designers from the industry during a review session, we all agreed that creating a mobile interface with integrated scheduling, resources, and a feature to pick up prescription refills was the most promising idea.
Our rationale is based off the three following reasons:
The mobile app offered the most opportunity to help students feel more supported, by providing resources for managing health, calling hotlines, and obtaining information about immunizations.
The mobile app emphasizes convenience. We want to empower students and help them feel more in control of their health. This solution enables students to not only schedule appointments with a provider using the integrated scheduling feature, but to also easily schedule prescription refills and pickups.
Lastly, the mobile app idea was the most comprehensive, allowing our team to incorporate various features into one solution: scheduling, prescription pick-up, and resources focused on health.
Picking up prescriptions from a pharmacy often takes time, especially when one has to wait in line and consult the pharmacist before obtaining their prescription. Prescription lockers make this process easier by giving students the ability to pickup their prescription any time during the day (when Husky Health is open).
Storyboard for Integrated Scheduling
Brainstorming Sketches
Features of this solution include:
Allow new patients to schedule first-time appointments online (without calling) at the Husky Health Center
Contactless Scheduling
Use information on vaccine side effects to schedule vaccine appointments that block out extra time for recovery
Side Effect Information
Use location information and travel information (by car, bus, etc.) to make transportation suggestions based on the user’s schedule
Transportation Help
Inform the user of the predicted insurance coverage for specific appointments before the user attends an appointment
Insurance Information
Allow new patients to schedule first-time appointments online (without calling) at the Husky Health Center
Easy Scheduling
Calculate the cost of a specific service with the user's insurance coverage
Cost Estimates
Features of this solution include:
Jordan needs to make an appointment with a new provider at Hall Health
Jordan starts a chat to schedule an appointment
HuskyCare uses MyUW to determine available appointment availability based on Jordan’s course schedule
Jordan can get back to studying knowing that he was able to quickly set up his appointment
The chatbot gives Jordan an estimated copay based on his insurance information
Jordan decides to wait on the phone, but gives up after 15 minutes
Jordan remembers he downloaded HuskyCare, which has a chatbot feature to assist with scheduling his appointments
Storyboard for Appointment Chatbot
Allow users to pay for their prescriptions in the app before they arrive at the pharmacy/without having to be at the lockers
Reduce Pharmacy Time
Notify the user via the pharmacy app when their prescription is filled and again when it is placed in a locker
User Notifications
Communicate to the user that lockers are full and they will have to wait in line to talk to a pharmacist
User Communication
Features of this solution include:
Storyboard for Appointment Chatbot
NEXT PHASE: IMPLEMENTATION
Phase 3: Implementation
After we settled on a solution that focused on integrated scheduling and providing resources to UW students,
we moved forward with creating a mobile interface called HuskyCare.
We conducted 3 usability tests to understand how our users would interact with the app. We asked our users to talk out loud while they completed three in-app tasks. During the tests, we took notes on users behavior and screen recorded their interactions with the app to gain qualitative data on how long it took them to complete each task. Additionally, after the tasks were completed we asked a series of qualitative and quantitative research questions about their experience with the tasks.
After deciding on our final design solution, our team created an information architecture diagram to help us define the structure for the HuskyCare interface. Creating the information architecture diagram allowed us to plan out the different features of the mobile app, based on our storyboards, user flows, and overall research findings.
During the implementation stage, our team heavily relied on the organized information architecture.
Information Architecture
We created an app. Why?
While many people still prefer paper planners or scheduling, most medical scheduling and databases are digital. Additionally, many students schedules, including those provided by the University of Washington.
During concept testing, we specifically asked users if they would prefer a website or app. Our users overwhelming preferred an app as it increased feelings of privacy.
Profile
Insurance
Personal Info (username/password)
User Calendar
Appointments
Upcoming Appointments
Additional Resources
Mental Health Services
Recommended Tasks
Free Appointments
Free Appointments
Vaccinations
Pharmacy/ Prescriptions
Home
Scheduling
Appt. type
Annual Checkup
Physical Therapy/ Sports Med
Lab/Radiology
Calendar
Provider Information
Reproductive health
Mental Health
Help
FAQs
Appointment FAQs
Insurance FAQs
Privacy FAQs
Medical Emergency Hotline
Poison Hotline
Mental Health Crisis Hotline
Sexual Harassment Hotline
LGBTQ+ Support Hotline
Urgent Care
Vaccinations
Emergency Hotlines
Login (NetID)
One of the largest complaints from our users during usability testing was that the categories underneath ‘Services’ were too vague. Additionally, users struggled during our second task, with where to find the ‘Prescriptions’ section.
Using this feedback, we replaced the services section on the home screen with the Prescriptions Button and added an Emergency Hotlines button to the home page so that these resources would be easily accessible. Additionally, we included news an updates related from the Husky Health Center to inform students of potential closures, changes in hours of operations, or health reminders such as seasonal vaccinations.
My Prescriptions
Emergency Hotlines
News & Updates
Upcoming
No Upcoming Appointments
Schedule a New Appointment
On July 1st, 2024, the Hall Health Center clinic became the Husky Health Center. Read the press release to learn more.
NAME CHANGE
HuskyCare
Did you know that 50% of people who get the flu don’t show any signs or symptoms, but are still contagious?
Learn about how to get your flu shot here.
FLU SHOTS ARE HERE
Home Page of Prototype
Post-Usability Test
HuskyCare
Mental Health
Medical
Dental
Livewell
Safety
Services
Upcoming
No Upcoming Appointments
Schedule a New Appointment
Home Page of Prototype
Pre-Usability Test
Usability Testing
While we developed many potential features we wanted to include in this app, due to our limited time frame we fully prototyped 3 main tasks.
How do we integrate student schedules with appointment availability so that they can schedule appointments online quickly?
Appointment Scheduling
How do we make it easy for students to schedule their prescriptions for pickup?
Refilling Prescriptions
How do we share additional information about the variety of services available at UW?
Accessing Additional Info
Appointment Scheduling
We implemented both a “List View’ and ‘Calendar View’ to provide users with two potential.
The list view shows the next available appointments which allows users to while the calendar view allows users to easily book further in advance
We added a visual schedule to show users how the appointment they selected fits into their schedule.
MAJOR CHANGES
Expanded Hamburger Menu
Pre-Usability Test
Refilling Prescriptions
On the home screen, we added a feature to allow users to access information regarding their current prescriptions.
From there, the user can either request a refill for their prescription or schedule an appointment to inquire with a pharmacist.
After the user confirms their refill, they will be notified that their request has been placed.
We implemented a “status” feature on the home page, where the user can check the status of their requested prescription.
Accessing Information
The “Frequently Asked Questions” page can be accessed by clicking on the hamburger menu.
The FAQs page is listed on this menu, along with other features that the user may need.
The FAQs page contains a filter feature, where the user can click on a keyword depending on their needs.
Each FAQ contains a dropdown, to access the relevant information and any necessary links.
Final Prototype
RETURN HOME
Husky
Care
After conducting our usability tests on our mid fidelity prototype, we implemented the feedback into our high fidelity prototype.