Background
Our journey began with a critical observation: the existing software solutions in the healthcare sector presented significant challenges for both healthcare professionals and patients alike. Navigating through complex interfaces and deciphering medical jargon posed obstacles, leading to inefficiencies and potential risks in patient care. In response, our team embarked on extensive user research, engaging with healthcare professionals and patients to understand their pain points and needs. This research underscored the pressing demand for a software solution that is not only more organized but also easily comprehensible for all users, regardless of their level of familiarity with medical terminology. Thus, our product concept emerged: a streamlined software platform designed to enhance usability and accessibility for both patients and healthcare workers, ultimately improving the quality of care and reducing the potential for errors
Brainstorming and Prototyping
Our brainstorming session was fueled by the desire to create a prototype that not only addressed the identified challenges but also provided a tangible experience of how our envisioned software solution could revolutionize healthcare interactions. We started by envisioning a trifold board prototype that would serve as a dynamic and interactive representation of our software concept. The central focus was on creating a user-friendly interface that could be easily customized by both healthcare professionals and patients.
The first feature we brainstormed was a comprehensive user bio page. This page would include essential information such as name, age, profession, and years of experience for healthcare professionals. For patients, it would feature pertinent personal details. To make this interactive, we incorporated buttons that users could attach or remove to customize the bio page according to their role—whether they were a patient or a healthcare professional.
Moving forward, we designed a medication schedule template on one side of the trifold board. This feature aimed to simplify medication management by allowing users to input their medication schedules. Again, buttons were employed to represent different medications, dosages, and scheduling details. Users could easily adjust and customize their medication schedules by attaching or removing these buttons.
Finally, we addressed the challenge of deciphering complex medical jargon by incorporating an example report slide. This slide showcased a typical medical report filled with technical language. However, to enhance accessibility, we added stickers with simplified terms that could be placed over the complex language. This feature enabled users to toggle between the original report and a simplified version, providing a clear demonstration of how our software could bridge the communication gap in healthcare.
Our make-a-thon activities were dedicated to bringing these brainstormed features to life in a tangible prototype. We gathered materials such as a trifold board, buttons, stickers, and printed templates to create a visually engaging and interactive prototype. Through iterative design and testing, we refined the prototype to ensure that it effectively demonstrated the key functionalities and benefits of our proposed software solution. The result was a prototype that not only showcased our innovative ideas but also provided a hands-on experience of how our software could revolutionize the healthcare industry.
Thoughts About Testing
Our decision-making process for shaping the main concepts and changes in our user-friendly software solution was heavily influenced by the insights gathered during interviews with healthcare professionals and patients. These interviews served as the cornerstone of our understanding, providing firsthand accounts of the challenges they faced with existing software solutions and their specific pain points in navigating complex interfaces and deciphering medical jargon. By actively listening to their experiences and frustrations, we gained invaluable perspectives that guided us in conceptualizing our solution. Through these interviews, we identified key areas for improvement, such as the need for a more organized and easily understandable interface, the importance of customization options to accommodate diverse user needs, and the criticality of bridging the communication gap between healthcare professionals and patients. These insights not only validated our initial hypotheses but also provided essential direction for refining our prototype and shaping our overall approach to designing a user-friendly software solution for the healthcare sector.
As we prepare to present our solution to the same individuals who participated in the interviews, we are eager to witness their reactions and gauge whether our proposed changes effectively address the identified issues. Their feedback will be instrumental in validating the efficacy of our solution and ensuring that it truly meets the needs of its intended users. We are confident that their input will further refine our solution, and we are eager to showcase the progress we have made based on their invaluable insights. We hope they see, and interact with this prototype acknowledging, this could actually be an easy solution in their everyday lives