Tasks Case Study

This project introduced a task management system for nurses and managers to prioritize and manage their work at Optimize Health.

Timeline

May 2023 - Present

Role

UX Lead

Responsibilities

User Research

Information Architecture

Design Ideation

Usability Testing

Key Problem

The Optimize platform lacked a centralized repository for all tasks assigned to nurses. This led to nurses investing precious time in work such as identifying patients for monitoring, manually computing time spent with patients, and remembering future assignments.

Project Goals

  • Increase user satisfaction and engagement with a task management feature

  • Increase time spent on patient records versus the patient list

  • Increase overall efficiency by prioritizing tasks based on urgency level

User Research

To gain insights on users’ frustrations I conducted both qualitative and quantitative research methods to gather data. Questions were presented to participants to assess their attitudes across the following four categories:

↪︎ Patient Monitoring

Participants were asked about their process for selecting patients to monitor on the platform, with the goal of understanding the various workflows users followed. They described starting the process from the patient list; filtering on critical new readings. From there, they would consult the electronic health record (EHR), searching for the patient to check for relevant notes. What should have been a straightforward process turned into a time-consuming hour-long task.

↪︎ Current Workflows

Participants detailed their login workflows and steps on the platform, revealing at least three distinct workflows. Interestingly, even nurses within the same organization had variations in their monitoring processes in the platform.

↪︎ Audit History

Participants shared insights on their methods for tracking activities related to specific patients and audit history. Besides consulting the billing report or the historical interactions tab, users lacked a comprehensive audit trail for all actions performed since a patient’s enrollment. I also identified instances where users were mistakenly utilizing the Notes panel to store interactions with the patient.

↪︎ Future To-Do’s

Participants were asked about their methods for tracking future check-ups for patients. A notable observation was that a number of users relied on the Notes panel to document the future to-dos for each patient. However, this approach posed challenges due to the absence of notifications and the inability to search for completed tasks for a patient.

Pain Points

From my research I was able to identify the following pain points that were common among users:

1

Monitoring is a cumbersome process

It takes patients too long to determine which patients to monitor upon login to the platform

2

There is no audit history

Users don’t know what was done for a patient without having to dig through the notes panel or the historical interactions tab

3

Future tasks are hard to remember

Due to the absence of notifications, remembering future tasks became challenging for users. A common workaround was to use post-its to remember tasks

Making Meaning of the Data

After the research stage, I parsed through the takeaways and key findings to begin brainstorming how I could tackle a task management system and address the users’ frustrations.

I conducted several brainstorming workshops with the product team and engineers to begin mapping out the various user paths and ensure everything was being tied back to the appropriate features within the platform.

These sessions were imperative as they helped me find the clearest flows and remove any redundant or confusing steps.

Low Fidelity Wireframes

I played around with a couple of ideas to show tasks, taking inspiration from the patient list page in the platform. User feedback helped me validate some of these designs and I was able to narrow down my ideas from there.

Mid Fidelity Wireframes

I started introducing elements and components to the designs as well as creating complex prototypes to visualize the user flow. User feedback sessions helped me iterate on the designs and validate we were heading in the right direction.

Usability Study Findings

Throughout the project, I conducted three rounds of usability studies. The initial round assessed the functionality of the user flow and architecture. The next rounds consisted around my high-fidelity prototypes and identifying areas where the mockups needed refinement or were confusing.

Takeaways & Insights

Achievements:

  • Participants were satisfied with the proposed new landing page, emphasizing its efficiency in providing a comprehensive overview of pending tasks

  • All participants independently and successfully completed test scenarios without requiring assistance

Challenges:

  • Some participants expressed concern about the prospect of an endless tasks list. I clarified that the default view would be “My Inbox”, displaying tasks assigned to them or unassigned

  • Another point of confusion for participants was accessing the history of completed tasks. I clarified this would be a future installment in future state

Final Designs

After going through a few cycles of design iterations and testing, the final designs were completed.

Reflection

I had certain expectations going into this project, however, throughout the design stages, I learned it was quite complicated with the numerous ways tasks tied together with other features on the platform. Maintaining an open-door policy and fostering collaboration played a crucial role. Feedback with cross functional teams and teamwork was the key to delivering a seamless handoff of the final designs.

1

Successful Collaboration

The tasks page and side panel are still being built, but it was a big accomplishment in terms of cross-functional team collaboration

2

Increase in Patient Engagement

68% of users spent less time on the patient list and increased time on patient engagement overall

3

User Satisfaction

“It’s the Ferrari of the remote care platforms! I love how easily I can provide valuable care”

-A happy user who piloted tasks

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Tasks Case Study

This project introduced a task management system for nurses and managers to prioritize and manage their work at Optimize Health.

Timeline

May 2023 - Present

Role

UX Lead

Responsibilities

User Research

Information Architecture

Design Ideation

Usability Testing

Key Problem

The Optimize platform lacked a centralized repository for all tasks assigned to nurses. This led to nurses investing precious time in work such as identifying patients for monitoring, manually computing time spent with patients, and remembering future assignments.

Project Goals

  • Increase user satisfaction and engagement with a task management feature

  • Increase time spent on patient records versus the patient list

  • Increase overall efficiency by prioritizing tasks based on urgency level

User Research

To gain insights on users’ frustrations I conducted both qualitative and quantitative research methods to gather data. Questions were presented to participants to assess their attitudes across the following four categories:

↪︎ Patient Monitoring

Participants were asked about their process for selecting patients to monitor on the platform, with the goal of understanding the various workflows users followed. They described starting the process from the patient list; filtering on critical new readings. From there, they would consult the electronic health record (EHR), searching for the patient to check for relevant notes. What should have been a straightforward process turned into a time-consuming hour-long task.

↪︎ Current Workflows

Participants detailed their login workflows and steps on the platform, revealing at least three distinct workflows. Interestingly, even nurses within the same organization had variations in their monitoring processes in the platform.

↪︎ Audit History

Participants shared insights on their methods for tracking activities related to specific patients and audit history. Besides consulting the billing report or the historical interactions tab, users lacked a comprehensive audit trail for all actions performed since a patient’s enrollment. I also identified instances where users were mistakenly utilizing the Notes panel to store interactions with the patient.

↪︎ Future To-Do’s

Participants were asked about their methods for tracking future check-ups for patients. A notable observation was that a number of users relied on the Notes panel to document the future to-dos for each patient. However, this approach posed challenges due to the absence of notifications and the inability to search for completed tasks for a patient.

Making Meaning of the Data

After the research stage, I parsed through the takeaways and key findings to begin brainstorming how I could tackle a task management system and address the users’ frustrations.

I conducted several brainstorming workshops with the product team and engineers to begin mapping out the various user paths and ensure everything was being tied back to the appropriate features within the platform.

These sessions were imperative as they helped me find the clearest flows and remove any redundant or confusing steps.

Low Fidelity Wireframes

I played around with a couple of ideas to show tasks, taking inspiration from the patient list page in the platform. User feedback helped me validate some of these designs and I was able to narrow down my ideas from there.

Mid Fidelity Wireframes

I started introducing elements and components to the designs as well as creating complex prototypes to visualize the user flow. User feedback sessions helped me iterate on the designs and validate we were heading in the right direction.

Final Designs

After going through a few cycles of design iterations and testing, the final designs were completed.

Pain Points

From my research I was able to identify the following pain points that were common among users:

1

Monitoring is a cumbersome process

It takes users too long to determine which patients to monitor upon login to the platform

2

There is no audit history

Users don’t know what was done for a patient without having to dig through the notes panel or interactions tab

3

Future tasks are hard to remember

Due to an absence of notifications, future tasks are hard to remember

4

Inefficient monitoring process

Users have different workflows and there is no one streamlined flow to quickly monitor patients

Usability Study Findings

Throughout the project, I conducted three rounds of usability studies. The initial round assessed the functionality of the user flow and architecture. The next rounds consisted around my high-fidelity prototypes and identifying areas where the mockups needed refinement or were confusing.

Takeaways & Insights

Achievements:

  • Participants were satisfied with the proposed new landing page, emphasizing its efficiency in providing a comprehensive overview of pending tasks

  • All participants independently and successfully completed test scenarios without requiring assistance

Challenges:

  • Some participants expressed concern about the prospect of an endless tasks list. I clarified that the default view would be “My Inbox”, displaying tasks assigned to them or unassigned

  • Another point of confusion for participants was accessing the history of completed tasks. I clarified this would be a future installment in future state

Reflection

I had certain expectations going into this project, however, throughout the design stages, I learned it was quite complicated with the numerous ways tasks tied together with other features on the platform. Maintaining an open-door policy and fostering collaboration played a crucial role. Feedback with cross functional teams and teamwork was the key to delivering a seamless handoff of the final designs.

1

Successful Collaboration

The tasks page is still being built, but it was an accomplishment in terms of cross-functional team collaboration

2

Increase in Patient Engagement

68% of users spent less time on the patient list and increased time on patient engagement overall

3

User Satisifaction

“It’s the Ferrari of the remote care platforms! I love how easily I can track care”

4

Tying features together

Through tasks and notifications, several platform features were tied together to streamline workflows

S

B

s

h

a

r

a

n

 

b

a

t

h

Tasks Case Study

This project introduced a task management system for nurses and managers to prioritize and manage their work at Optimize Health.

Timeline

May 2023 - Present

Role

UX Lead

Responsibilities

User Research

Information Architecture

Design Ideation

Usability Testing

Key Problem

The Optimize platform lacked a centralized repository for all tasks assigned to nurses. This led to nurses investing precious time in work such as identifying patients for monitoring, manually computing time spent with patients, and remembering future assignments.

Making Meaning of the Data

After the research stage, I parsed through the takeaways and key findings to begin brainstorming how I could tackle a task management system and address the users’ frustrations.

I conducted several brainstorming workshops with the product team and engineers to begin mapping out the various user paths and ensure everything was being tied back to the appropriate features within the platform.

These sessions were imperative as they helped me find the clearest flows and remove any redundant or confusing steps.

Low Fidelity Wireframes

I played around with a couple of ideas to show tasks, taking inspiration from the patient list page in the platform. User feedback helped me validate some of these designs and I was able to narrow down my ideas from there.

Mid Fidelity Wireframes

I started introducing elements and components to the designs as well as creating complex prototypes to visualize the user flow. User feedback sessions helped me iterate on the designs and validate we were heading in the right direction.

Project Goals

Increase user satisfaction and engagement with a task management feature

Increase time spent on patient records versus the patient list

Increase overall efficiency by prioritizing tasks based on urgency level

Pain Points

Monitoring is a cumbersome process

It takes users too long to determine which patients to monitor upon login to the platform

There is no audit history

Users don’t know what was done for a patient without having to dig through the notes panel or interactions tab

Future tasks are hard to remember

Due to an absence of notifications, future tasks are hard to remember

Inefficient monitoring process

Users have different workflows and there is no one streamlined flow to quickly monitor patients

Reflection

I had certain expectations going into this project, however, throughout the design stages, I learned it was quite complicated with the numerous ways tasks tied together with other features on the platform. Maintaining an open-door policy and fostering collaboration played a crucial role. Feedback with cross functional teams and teamwork was the key to delivering a seamless handoff of the final designs.

Successful collaboration

The tasks page is still being built, but it was an accomplishment in terms of cross-functional team collaboration

Increase in patient engagement

68% of users spent less time on the patient list and increased time on patient engagement overall

User satisfaction

“It’s the Ferrari of the remote care platforms! I love how easily I can track care”

Tying features together

Through tasks and notifications, several platform features were tied together to streamline workflows

User Research

↪︎ Patient Monitoring

Participants were asked about their process for selecting patients to monitor on the platform, with the goal of understanding the various workflows users followed. They described starting the process from the patient list; filtering on critical new readings. From there, they would consult the electronic health record (EHR), searching for the patient to check for relevant notes. What should have been a straightforward process turned into a time-consuming hour-long task.

↪︎ Current Workflows

Participants detailed their login workflows and steps on the platform, revealing at least three distinct workflows. Interestingly, even nurses within the same organization had variations in their monitoring processes in the platform.

↪︎ Audit History

Participants shared insights on their methods for tracking activities related to specific patients and audit history. Besides consulting the billing report or the historical interactions tab, users lacked a comprehensive audit trail for all actions performed since a patient’s enrollment. I also identified instances where users were mistakenly utilizing the Notes panel to store interactions with the patient.

↪ Future To-Do’s

Participants were asked about their methods for tracking future check-ups for patients. A notable observation was that a number of users relied on the Notes panel to document the future to-dos for each patient. However, this approach posed challenges due to the absence of notifications and the inability to search for completed tasks for a patient.

Usability Study Findings

Throughout the project, I conducted three rounds of usability studies. The initial round assessed the functionality of the user flow and architecture. The next rounds consisted around my high-fidelity prototypes and identifying areas where the mockups needed refinement or were confusing.

↪ Takeaways & Insights:

Achievements:

Participants were satisfied with the proposed new landing page, emphasizing its efficiency in providing a comprehensive overview of pending tasks

All participants independently and successfully completed test scenarios without requiring assistance

Challenges:

Some participants expressed concern about the prospect of an endless tasks list. I clarified that the default view would be “My Inbox”, displaying tasks assigned to them or unassigned

Another point of confusion for participants was accessing the history of completed tasks. I clarified this would be a future installment in future state

Final Designs

After going through a few cycles of design iterations and testing, the final designs were completed.