I completed this project as a part of an interview assignment for a UX Designer role. The goal of this assignment was to create a personalized, easy-to-use interface where patients can find their medical records. The solution is the initial wireframe of the patient portal.
This interview assignment valued justifying design decisions. So I invested time doing a mini literature review and making a survey to make sure my design was evidence-based. My deliverables are outlined below.
While 80% of Canadians want online access to their health information, less than 40% have actually accessed their virtual records, according to the 2023 Canadian Digital Health Survey (1). This highlights a significant opportunity for healthcare providers to develop more accessible patient portals.
Research by Carini et al. shows that patients appreciate features like access to lab results and imaging, medical notes, messaging with providers, medication refills, and current medication lists (2).
However, many patients face challenges when using these portals, particularly with navigation and understanding clinical results (3). This suggests a need for improvements in usability and clearer presentation of health information.
According to Graham et al, portal users are more engaged and less likely to have no shows. Portal users missed 4.5% of their appointments. In comparison, non-portal users missed 9.5% of their appointments (4). Some other potential portal benefits include: increased therapy adherence and better health status awareness (3). Therefore, improving portal quality and access may positively impact patients’ care experience and health spending.
Research Objectives:
A sample of some of the interview questions
After summarizing interview results (affinity mapping), there was a reoccurring theme. Most participants found it difficult to navigate patient portals. Also, many patients had difficulty understanding clinical notes, diagnostic imaging, and lab tests. A more detailed summary of participants’ insights is found below.
The major themes that shaped participants' patient portal experiences were:
"Answers can be difficult to find."
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"[I want] easier/clearer explanations of results"
"It's frustrating trying to keep track of 3-4 different portals".
Interviewees discussed navigating patient portals the most. So I crafted a how might we statement that reflects the participants' needs. The how might we statement is found below.
How might we improve patient portals so they are easy to navigate and engage Canadians in their healthcare journeys?
To help patients more easily find their health records I added a "Recent Activity" section, added push notifications with a bell icon, and sorted records by health condition on the patient portal home page. Survey results and patient quotes informed my design decisions. I go into more detail in the following section.
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Solution > add a notification bell icon, push notifications, and a recent activities section to flag recent updates
Solution > organize health records by health condition and highlight abnormal results with hexagons (stop signs)
Several respondents did not complete the full survey as they had never used a patient portal before. This information was useful because:
For patients to be more engaged in their health journeys, they need to understand their health records. Some features patients are interested in are: simplified summaries of clinical notes and a chatbot to help understand and sort through their health records.
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