MediLinker

Usability Testing for Medical Data App

What Did We Research?

MediLinker is an application for transferring one’s medical data to new healthcare providers. My team and I performed usability analysis and testing with an eye towards improving the experience of MediLinker’s user base.

Tell Me More…

Imagine you are visiting a new doctor for the first time, and are asked to arrive 30 minutes early for the appointment. You probably know what’s waiting for you at the receptionist’s counter - a stack of new-patient paperwork an inch thick. Are you prepared to recount years of medical and surgical history yet again? Do you even remember how to spell the name of that medication you just started taking?

MediLinker was created in order to smooth this process for patient and clinic alike. First, a patient enters their medical data from the comfort of their home. Next they share it with a trusted doctor, who reviews and “authenticates” the data so that other clinics know they can rely on its accuracy. Finally, the next time the patient visits a new doctor they simply “forward'“ their data with no re-entry required.

MediLinker was in the very early stages when we first saw it, and our team conducted usability testing before it had undergone such by the developer. Though our involvement as academic researchers means that we have not yet seen the final product, we like to think that our presentation of findings to the client (Dell Medical) influenced its growth!

About the Project

 

Client

Dell Medical, UT Austin

 

Timeline

10 weeks

Team

Tara Rastogi, Dishanth Shankar Reddh, Ashrai Jha, Patrick Sui, David Kerr

My Role

Graduate UX Researcher with The University of Texas iSchool

Advisor

Eric Nordquist

 

My Contributions

  • Conducted Heuristic/Competitive Evaluation with Team

  • Wrote Participant Screener

  • Co-wrote Participant Packet

  • Conducted 9 User Tests as Moderator, Note Taker, or Solo

  • Evaluated and Analyzed Quantitative Data

  • Presented Insights to Client with Team

Primary Objectives

  1. Assess MediLinker’s features in comparison to market leaders

  2. Evaluate MediLinker’s usability against industry heuristic standards

  3. Observe user responses to MediLinker in live test scenario to pinpoint areas for improvement

  4. Gauge user attitudes towards sharing their medical data through MediLinker

Our Process

  • 1. Competitive Analysis

  • 2. Heuristic Evaluation

  • 3. Screener

  • 4. Recruitment

  • 5. Test Materials

  • 6. Prototyping

  • 7. User Testing

  • 8. Data Analysis

  • 9. Conclusions & Recommendations

  • 10. Presentation to Client


Our Results

  • Individuals in their 60’s and above are target users (tend to see a doctor more frequently)

  • Cohort in 60’s rated app 20-50 points lower than all other participants

  • This trend indicates a significant usability problem

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…

 

Why did the 60’s cohort struggle?

Symbols

Users in this age bracket did not know what all of these symbols meant.

 
 

Terminology

Users in this age bracket were unsure what these terms implied in the context of MediLinker.

 

The Clinic Portal - A Case Study

At a certain point during our test, a new user connects with their first clinic and gets routed to this screen. Then they’re asked to enter their driver’s license information.

How would you do that? Stop reading for a moment and study the screenshot.

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Ready for the answer? Scroll down to continue.

 

Did You Guess Correctly?

The correct option was to click on the “Community Clinic” banner.

Since a clinic must verify user information before it can be shared with other clinics (the whole point MediLinker), developers intended for users to select a clinic first and then upload their drivers license via that clinic’s portal.

 

Users Weren’t Sure Where to Go

In our testing, most users tried one clicking one of these options first. Some never got past them.

These users didn’t understand MediLinker’s verification system - they expected to upload their drivers license to the app first, before choosing a clinic to send it to.

 

Tell Me More….

How do you retrain users to expect something new?

Users expectations were confounded because they expected MediLinker to work like other applications. Usually, when you upload a document to the web, you do so before you choose who to share that document with.

But MediLinker asked users to do the opposite (select a recipient clinic, then upload a document) and the architecture of the app reflected that. This was the digital equivalent of putting a “push bar” on a door that should be pulled open; many users were confused, and some never figured it out.

The reasons for MediLinker’s design choice have to do with the way that the app stores data on the blockchain. However, explaining this to users is both complicated and almost certainly unwanted. Instead, we suggested that the app prompt users what to do when they reach this screen.

 

The result of all that confusion?

Users didn’t trust MediLinker.

 

Main Takeaway

  • Older users are confused by current the navigation system.

  • Confusion yields mistrust, since personal data is involved.

  • Since these are target users, some redesign is recommended.

Tell Me More…

As we’ve seen, users who rated MediLinker poorly did so because they struggled with basic functions of the app. (Remember that several users failed to realize that they needed to click the ‘clinic banner’ in order to reach the screen where they could upload their data, which was a fundamental function). As frustrations mounted, I couldn’t help but think that MediLinker was designed for those already fluent in app symbology and architecture.

That’s an issue, because older users - those who did not grow up using smartphones - are precisely the ones who should be accommodated in MediLinker’s design. The user who gave the lowest overall SUS score, aged 65, said in the exit interview that he had been to see five new doctors in the past year alone. Who better to benefit from an application for transferring medical records to clinics?

For these reasons I think it is important that the app undergo further rounds of testing, particularly involving participants who are older and/or less tech-savvy, so as to uncover design elements what would be accessible and intuitive to this segment of potential users.

Want More Details? Read Our Report!

This slide deck was our final presentation to the client.