Case RES — Unimed Campinas
The Medical Record is a set of documents that shows the history of a patient’s healthcare appointments. Certificates, examination reports, and medical prescriptions are examples of records that should be archived in the medical record.
And RES — Registro Eletrônico de Saúde (or EHR — Electronic Health Record), the electronic medical record system created by Unimed Campinas in 2006, serves as a great facilitator for clinics, offices, and hospitals to organize themselves digitally.
Despite having many functions — really, a lot! — by the year 2023, the system has little adoption among medical professionals and operators.
In spite the low adoption rate, it:
- Reduced in-person appointments in the Cooperative by 60%;
- Eliminated the issuance of over 130,000 paper forms per month;
- Enabled traceability of information digitally;
- Medical professionals gained more agility in evaluating patients.
In this article, as a UX Designer, I intend to discuss the usability of the system and how it has been improved and revamped. In partnership with João Furquim, the UI Designer on this project, we redesigned the entire RES, applying UX principles and creating a new visual design that brings more simplicity and ease of use for the doctors at Unimed Campinas.
To begin with, RES had not received significant updates since 2020, with the most recent one being the integration with the Zoom platform for online appointments.
However, during the year of the major Covid-19 pandemic, Unimed Campinas was still using outdated technology, which resulted in system slowness, difficult usability, and the need for professionals to undergo training to use it effectively.
Target audience and interviews
Currently, with over 3,500 cooperating doctors, Unimed Campinas has a diverse audience for its systems. For the initial research process, we decided to discover exactly who these people were and the problems they faced.
For this purpose, interviews and usability tests were conducted with doctors from various specialties, nurses, secretaries, and the RES support team. Despite being different professionals, we found the same problems and comments in all the interviews:
- Low performance and system slowness;
- Confusing buttons and fields;
- Steep learning curve;
- The system has too many functions, with most of them not being commonly used;
- Repetitive functions scattered across various screens;
- Inaccurate procedure names and buttons;
- Outdated design.
Based on the interviews and tests, we concluded that the majority of the RES’s audience consists of medical professionals (from various specialties, but primarily Pediatrics) and nurses aged between 30 and 60. A significant portion of these individuals is not familiar with new technologies and often requires support to use the systems.
For this project, personas were created to exemplify the main professionals who use the RES. Using these personas, we could proceed to the wireframing phase.
Beginning of the process
Taking into account the interviews and feedback we received from users, we began to take action. First, we cataloged the results for easy access and reference during the development process, and then we moved to Figma for defining flows, creating wireframes, and prototyping.
“Even the best designers produce successful products only if their designs solve the right problems. A beautiful interface for the wrong features will fail.” — Jakob Nielsen
In the redesign of the screens, we applied Nielsen’s Heuristics, accessibility features, and established principles of usability in web systems.
After listening to the interviewees, we determined the main workflow and identified where we should focus our efforts first. We managed to reduce around 13 screens between the old and new versions, consolidating functions and implementing solutions for the mentioned problems.
The most significant changes we made were to the Patient’s Care screen, which was previously divided into two sections: Patient Information and Patient Care. (The division was due to the fact that operators who are not medical professionals cannot access sensitive data from appointments, such as the medical record.)
The two screens have now been merged into a single one, providing faster loading of information. The same screen is used for both operators and doctors, displaying only the necessary information based on the user type at login.
The design of the wireframes underwent significant changes in the final UI, but it greatly contributed to conducting A/B testing with our target audience using a medium-fidelity prototype.
Improving User Experience
Once again, based on the data we collected, we concluded that it was not only the system’s performance that bothered users but a series of factors that collectively contributed to its poor usability.
The fields for information input, which were previously confusing and had various nomenclatures — for example, the field “Member ID” could be found as “Card,” “Beneficiary Code,” “Code,” and others — and now it has been standardized. We also added descriptions to each field, considering users who utilize screen readers.
Delving deep into the system, we discovered several screens with defects that had not been used for years due to rule changes at Unimed Campinas or the creation of functions that replaced the old ones.
In the image below, we see a comparison between the old menu and the redesigned version:
User Interest vs. Company Interest
As product designers, we know that the interests of users don’t always align with the direction we envision for our products. Often, we need to find a middle ground between what the user wants and what the company desires for its systems.
Following this line of thinking, we also spoke with the RES support team. They shared something important with us: many times, users asked the same questions and faced similar problems.
One of the major issues was the lack of visibility for necessary information, such as the number of patients for the day or the monthly limit for telemedicine appointments (which is set by the Cooperative itself), among others.
As mentioned earlier, our audience often lacks technological expertise, so it was crucial for us to present essential information visually and in an easily accessible and understandable way.
To address these concerns, we came up with the idea of adding dashboards on the homepage (which would be regularly updated) to provide users with the numbers and status they need for their appointments in a more visual and user-friendly manner.
This interface not only solves user problems but also aligns with the company’s interests by reducing the burden on the RES support team. We have a win-win situation here, where both parties involved will benefit.
Conclusion
In conclusion, improving the usability of a system is essential to ensure a positive and efficient user experience. In this article, we have explored various strategies and practices adopted to enhance the usability of a system, considering everything from its conception to its final implementation.
By adopting a user-centered approach and considering the needs, expectations, and abilities of users, it is possible to create intuitive, efficient, and enjoyable interfaces. Conducting usability tests during the system’s development phase is also crucial, as it allows for the identification and resolution of any potential issues and bottlenecks that could compromise the overall experience.
Ultimately, improving usability is not only beneficial for users but also for the organizations that develop and provide systems. A user-friendly and easy-to-use interface contributes to user satisfaction, brand loyalty, and even increased productivity. Therefore, investing in usability improvements is a valuable investment that can yield significant long-term returns.
In summary, usability is a fundamental aspect of a system’s success, directly impacting the user experience. By adopting user-centered design practices, conducting usability tests, and seeking continuous feedback, it was possible to enhance the usability of RES and provide users with a more enjoyable, efficient, and inclusive experience.
