Discover & Analysis
How might we develop a scheduling system that allows managing of recurring appointments, eliminate redundant tasks, and minimize manual workload to enhance efficiency and user satisfaction?
Specific Objectives
1.
Identify the main pain points users currently face when scheduling multiple appointments.
2.
Identify the essential elements users need to have in consideration when scheduling multiple appointments.
3.
Define a workflow for setting over 3 appointments for the same patient and allows to edit the elements that compose the medical appointment.
4.
Propose a recurring appointment approach to find and schedule appointments for one patient.
Research Plan & Timeline
The design process for this project was strategically elaborated and then showed to the product manager, business analyst, and the UX research team for seamless coordination. It followed an Agile framework of iterative cycles and sprints to ensure continuous refinement and alignment with business objectives. This approach optimized time management and adaptability, driving the successful release of the feature.
Usability Interviews
We reviewed existing user interviews focused on uncovering major pain points regarding the existing scheduling process. In these interviews users where also asked to show how they would create a new appointment which allowed us to understand the key workflows, essential data needed to complete the task and the average time spend while making a new appointments from different specialties.
Time on task while scheduling an appointment
Client Survey
Based on the interview results we carried out a survey to uncover principal pain-points within the main three workflows and uncover main user needs while trying to schedule an appointment that repeats over time for one patient.
Major pain-points
Time consuming management
Repeating input of information
Exhausting search for available times
Essential management
75% of the users agreed they need to schedule between 3-12 appointments at the same time.
Major need for cancelling all appointments at the same time.
Locked fields
76% of the users agreed that the provider remains the same.
93% of the users agreed that the location used remains the same.
Ideation & Design
Usability Testing
We design different workflows starting from different steps. After testing these solutions we realize the essential starting point was the filling of information for a new appointment, once the user already decided the beginning date and time.
Each participant mentioned independently the desire for a way to select particular days of the week, making this an essential change to the feature. Also, there was some confusion regarding the ability of using the selected time of the first appointment for all the following appointments as well.
For ease of use, users on average rated the solution 5.2 out of 7
Technical Feasibility
A main technical challenge involved efficiently loading, holding, and saving multiple appointments at once. This created a significant performance concern that could directly affect the user experience by slowing down task completion when searching for or managing appointments.
Client Feedback Sessions (Design Labs)
Design labs aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the new process by identifying user needs and validating the management and visibility options for recurring appointments.
Key findings
Users prefer updating all recurrences at once but appreciate the flexibility to adjust them individually
Users expect search options for specific days, as well as a single reminder for all recurrences to avoid overwhelming patients, considering the patient communication channels.
They emphasized the need for consistent management of recurring appointments after saving, with the ability to reschedule appointments promoting any conflicts with future recurring appointments.
Carrying over appointment notes and the reason for the visit across recurring appointments better adjusts their workflow.
After understanding principal user needs and main pain points we continue enhancing the solution, integrating the cancellation workflow and additional visibility for recognizing an appointment part of a recurring series,
Key Learnings & Recommendations
Higher priority
Enhance management option to allow the edition of all recurrences at once as well as individuals ones.
Reason for visit and appointment notes are expected to carry over all recurrences.
Visibility of recurrences should only display current and upcoming appointments to avoid confusion and information overload.
Providing the option to manage all recurrences at once and continue adding recurrences after saving all could be beneficial to provide further consistency along the workflow.
Lower priority
Provide prompt/alert messages when adjusting a recurrence that overlaps or causes conflicts with the following ones scheduled.
When updating one recurrence, users should be able to choose whether the update is only for that appointment or for all.
Reminders are expected to contain all recurrences but frequency should be considered when a longer amount of time is presented between recurrences.
