YourHealthNS mobile app experience
A comprehensive and user-centric healthcare management web + mobile app.
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Contributors
Designers (3), Engineers (4), Project Manager
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Skills
Research, UX, Product thinking, Information architecture, Prototyping
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Timeline
12 weeks
Overview
As a UX design intern at EY Design Studio, I was part of a team responsible for shaping the YourHealthNS web and mobile app, a single destination for Nova Scotians to manage their well-being and increase healthcare accessibility.
YourHealthNS is the provincial platform for digital health for Nova Scotia with the goal of empowering people by giving them access to their medical records, health information and ability to manage appointments and prescriptions. The Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSH) wanted to design an online experience that is seamless, engaging and cohesive within their digital ecosystem.
This was an opportunity to design a digital experience based on Nova Scotia's ministry principles, deliver on user needs and transform the experience so that it is more engaging and valuable for residents of the province.
The problem
NSH's mission statement and principles are all about their commitment to being the go-to destination for innovative healthcare needs of their residents. However, their online platform did not exactly align with their principles. The current state audit immediately revealed a cumbersome experience. The disjointed experience and confusing information architecture made for a poor online user journey.
The goal
The high level goal was to enhance the design of platform experience that keeps the core of what we've built so far, while delivering on opportunities, addressing pain points and setting the stage for the future.
Usability audit
We put together a user testing report that helped us decide what parts of the current state of the app to keep and what to improve:
What to keep
🍊 Ability to personalize with the ability to save service and resource links to the homepage dashboard
🍊 ‘Let’s Find You Care’ help chat tool
🍊 The Services, Resources and Health Records navigation categories
What to improve
🍊 The language and organization of information resources for a better browsing experience
🍊 Build awareness around pharmacies to treat minor ailments
🍊 Optimize website (nshealth.ca) pages and appointment bookings on the app
Who are YourHealthNS's users and what's their context?
User pain points
🍊 Limited Time: Finding healthcare services online needs to be quick and efficient, as they have limited time for extensive research.
🍊 Information Overload: The abundance of health information online can be overwhelming. They often feel confused by the conflicting advice and numerous options available.
🍊 Trust Issues: They are cautious about the credibility of online health services and is concerned about making the wrong choice. They are worried that they might miss important information, choose the wrong healthcare provider or overlook better options.
🍊 Emotional Stress: Emotional stress intensifies as they try to navigate through an ocean of information, which leaves them feeling anxious about making the right health decisions. They also feel responsible for not only their own, but their family's well-being.
Design challenge
How can we enable users to access healthcare services, resources, and assistance more efficiently?
Approach
I followed 3 guiding principles based on the research insights:
1. Consistency
It was important that the app had the same look and feel as the Nova Scotia Health website to maintain trust and that it’d be easy enough to navigate to not overwhelm users.
2. Simple human
Health concerns people of all ages, so it’s good practice to not assume that all users know everything. Whenever possible, explain complex terms plain and simple.
3. Motivate
Maintain user motivation to have a full start-to-finish experience by getting them what they need.
The solution
1. Content organization and search tool
Features
🍊 An improved way of finding information on the application with the use of categories and a dedicated search page.
🍊 Information is laid out in order of urgency instead of the current alphabetical order.
🍊 Resources and links are organized in categories that are named with commonplace terms over medical terms for general comprehension.
🍊 The Search tool now available in the navigation uses keyword label search and show results for synonyms while also providing search suggestions.
Target outcomes
🍊 Nova Scotians can navigate the content with ease.
🍊 Content is discovered based on search terms that make sense.
2. Pharmacy care for minor ailments
Features
🍊 Most common symptoms and prescriptions can be dealt at a pharmacy so we made this front and centre of the homepage.
🍊 Provides Nova Scotians with a list of treatable minor conditions and participating pharmacies.
🍊 Provides the link to the pharmacy website to book an appointment for convenience.
🍊 Future: Integration with Pharmacy booking systems so that Nova Scotians can schedule an appointment within the YHNS app.
Target outcomes
🍊 Users can access care without visiting an emergency or urgent care service. We want Nova Scotians to visit pharmacies for minor ailments so that the rest of the health system can provide care for more complex needs.
3. Native mobile app booking services
Features
🍊 Design a native mobile app experience for the most frequent booking services e.g. Blood Collection via QMatic booking API.
🍊 Inject JavaScript into websites that are not mobile responsive on run time to update the formatting so that web content loaded in the app is rendered in a way that makes it easier to browse.
Target outcomes
🍊 Complete bookings faster within YHNS Mobile Apps and relieve pressure on healthcare system.
🍊 Better browsing experience of nshealth.ca content to render on YHNS mobile.
Measuring success
Since YourHealthNS was yet to launch after my internship ended, I did not have access to internal or user feedback. However, if they were to be implemented I would define success using these 3 key metrics:
1. Time spent
Track the average time users spend on the app per session and how often over time.
2. User satisfaction through surveys and NPS (Net promoter Score)
Measure users' likelihood to recommend the app to others and to gather feedback on usability, features, and overall experience.
3. Booking rates
Track how many users were able to find pharmacy care for a minor ailment, book an appointment or access their health records.
Takeaways
If I had more time I would…
🍊 Enhance user onboarding: Create a seamless onboarding process that guides users through the app's features and functionalities so that they understand how to make the most of it.
🍊 Increase frequency of user research: Have a broad demographic range of potential users to conduct in-depth user interviews and surveys to gain a deeper understanding of users' pain points, preferences and needs. It would also help if I did usability testing with prototypes to gather feedback on specific features and the user flow.
🍊 Get input from healthcare providers: Speak to health professionals to see how we can use the app to triage users to alternative care options so that the rest of the health system can provide for more complex needs.
🍊 Pharmacy booking in-app: Integration with Pharmacy booking systems so that Nova Scotians can schedule an appointment within the YHNS app.
