Health Care Mobile App
Home care workers faced daily frustrations using an outdated system that relied on handwritten notes during visits and manual data entry into a desktop application back at the office. This inefficient workflow led to delays, missed updates, and a lack of real-time communication.
As the Senior UX Designer, I led user research efforts to uncover pain points, conducted in-depth interviews, and translated key insights into a user-centered prototype that directly addressed the workflow challenges.
We designed a mobile app tailored for field use, allowing home care workers to access schedules, update care details on the go, and store information offline when Wi-Fi wasn’t available. The new app streamlined communication between field staff and office teams.
The solution led to an 80% improvement in real-time communication and a 60% boost in client satisfaction - dramatically enhancing both caregiver efficiency and quality of care.
The Kickoff
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Problem Statement
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How might we solve the issues faced by home care workers with our native mobile app?
Target Persona
Abby Smith is a Personal Support Worker who’s tasks usually involve providing personal care such as bathing, hygiene, and helping clients with dressing, grooming, and eating.
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Abby gets her patient information while in the office, prints off the paperwork and goes out to her home visits. Each visit includes a checklist of tasks to complete, list of medications and medical supplies that may or may not need to be ordered.
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Research
Research Methods
We interviewed 4 coordinators and 5 Personal Support Workers to find out what tasks they were required to do in order to set up home care visits and perform them. We learned of their pain points in the current process and identified a few features which could make things easier for them to do their jobs while increasing their accuracy.
Key Research Findings
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PSWs are worried the new mobile app will be difficult to use
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Coordinators are not able to send updates to PSWs out on calls
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PSWs are writing notes on paper that sometimes get lost
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Changes to care routine are not always updated at the end of the visit
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Brainstorming
We analyzed the data from research findings into a presentation to the stakeholders.
We set up several brainstorming workshops with the team to discuss the requirements for the app and work through some ambiguity.
The user flow was mapped out, and then a low-fidelity concept design was created to share with the stakeholders.
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Prototype Creation
Based on feedback from the stakeholders, product and development teams, we refined the solution several times and arrived at a high fidelity design using Adobe XD.
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This solution was simple, featured a list of tasks and patient data that could be updated in the office by coordinators and the information would automatically push out to the mobile app. PSWs can order medical supplies via the app right at a patient’s house and if there is no Wifi, the data stores until a sync can be performed.​​
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Validation
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The solution was tested in 5 clinical environments, with coordinators and PSWs in the field. Feedback from this was used to further refine the solution.
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The Design
Results
Our mobile app was implemented to support home care workers in the field, enabling them to access schedules, update care details, and store information offline. This solution significantly streamlined communication between field staff and office teams.
As a result, we achieved an 80% improvement in real-time communication and a 60% boost in client satisfaction, greatly enhancing caregiver efficiency and the overall quality of care provided.
