SYDNEY SWANSON


Get Care Today: A Way to Help Users Manage Their Health Care Online


Goals
Concept Testing
Design Sprint
User Testing
Reflection

With the increasing demand for access to online health information during COVID-19, we were challenged with the task of guiding Sharp HealthCare's online visitors to the right level of care. I worked with the rest of the UX team at Sharp to brainstorm, design, test, and iterate on a "Get Care Today" page to help users feel safe and confident their medical needs are being met. To accomplish this, we also worked with a third-party design agency using a design sprint methodology.



ROLE: UX Designer

TIMELINE: 3 Months

TOOLS: OptimalSort, Invision, Sketch, Mural, Axure, Zeplin

TEAM: Members of Product, UX, UI, Content Strategy, and SEO at Sharp, in collaboration with a third-party design agency



Determining Our Goals





In order to create a page that targeted new users with acute health conditions in need of same-day care, we had to define our top goals:

  1. Attract new patients to Sharp by providing online tools.
  2. Establish when it's best to make an appointment with a primary care physician (PCP) or go to an urgent care / emergency room based on the health condition.
  3. Provide a way for site visitors with complex needs to get a high-touch level of triage (i.e. symptom checker, chat, phone call with nurse).


PROBLEM STATEMENT



" As a newer or potential patient, I sometimes find it difficult to navigate Sharp’s complex health care system. I find my options overwhelming, and I just want someone to tell me what to do next – in a way that is convenient for me – so that I feel safe and confident I’m being guided to the right level of care. "



PERSONAS



To better frame our approach to the problem, we identified several personas.

  1. Allie, new mother
  2. Paul, health care manager
  3. Linda, health advocate
  4. Estelle, Medicare candidate


USER STORIES



We then wrote out user stories for our personas and framed relevant questions with "How might we...?"



Concept Testing





The main questions we wanted to answer with concept testing were:

  • What might we call our care solution? What blanket phrase will most accurately describe the purpose of the page?
  • How do users want digital triage to be presented? Do users want a personally tailored list or a more generalized list?
  • How will users select the right option given their medical network?


Card Sorting



In the first part of our concept testing, we described to users the purpose of the page. Then, we used OptimalSort to present to users a list of potential options that they could sort into their top three preferences.


"Immediate care", "Get care now", and "Get seen today" performed the best with participants.



PROTOTYPE TESTING



In the second part of our concept testing, we showed participants a rough prototype where they could select their symptoms and then get offered a list of care options. We wanted to find out if they liked a more personalized set of options as part of a digital triage, as well as which options they were most drawn to. We also wanted to find out how users reacted to handling their medical network selection -- something that has been a long-standing problem due to its very confusing internal structure.


Link to v.2 prototype

Design Sprint





After using concept testing to get a better picture of what users want, we conducted a design sprint to compile the best ideas for our Get Care solution. From our concept testing, we concluded:

  • "Get Care Today" encompassed the best aspects of the most popular card sorts.
  • Users want digital triage in the form of a list of options available to them, including a "talk to a live person" option.
  • Users still struggle with choosing the correct network, and the most immediately successful solution is currently out of scope for this project.

With the above points in mind, we carried out our sketching using the prompt: How might we provide easy access to virtual and brick-and-mortar care options?



IDEAS & VOTING



Our sketches involved many of the ideas validated by our concept testing. The main points we wanted to clarify in our sketches were:

  • To figure out the best order of layout for presenting health care options to users
  • How to separate scheduled versus immediately available options
  • Whether a horizontal or vertical layout is clearer to users

Each sketch earned a number of votes (denoted with a pink circle), and we documented feedback for each sketch as a group.



User Testing





After the results of our sketches were determined, we created another set of designs for user testing. Our main goals were:

  • How do we order our four main digital triage options (virtual care, urgent care, emergency room, and same day appointment with PCP)? Which one(s) should be displayed first?
  • Do users prefer a horizontal or vertical arrangement of their options?
  • ​When should common symptoms be collapsed/expanded by default?
  • How do we effectively navigate users to the Get Care page from the Homepage?


HOMEPAGE DESIGNS (DESKTOP)



We wanted to incorporate an abbreviated version of our "Get Care" page on the homepage for users who wanted immediate access to their options. Our main goal was to see whether a horizontal or vertical layout of options was more readable. We also wanted to test how users might navigate to the "Get Care" page from the homepage, so we hypothesized that a link in the main navigation on the leftmost side would be the most prominent location.



Homepage Version A (above)



Homepage Version B (above)



GET CARE PAGE DESIGN (DESKTOP)



Once a user landed on the Get Care subpage, we wanted to make sure the most pertinent information was easily accessible. We decided to highlight same-day appointment scheduling with your PCP at the very top of the page, while the other digital triage options were laid out below. We opted to have the "What's treated?" sections expanded by default for the following reasons: These sections provided vital information to help users decide which option was best for them, and the main purpose of the page was to effectively triage users (while the homepage had more than one goal).



Get Care Page (above)



MOBILE CONSIDERATIONS



When translated to mobile devices, the main changes to our designs involved a couple of things:

  • The layout of the mobile navigation (hamburger menu) for accessing our Get Care page
  • Whether or not to keep the "What's treated?" sections expanded or collapsed due to the limited real estate on mobile screens


USER TESTING RESULTS



The main takeaways of our user testing were:


Order of options

  • Patients love the idea of virtual care and would choose that over other options if they can.
  • Most patients prefer urgent care over same day appointments because making an appointment requires having the time to research a PCP (if one has not already been established).

Layout of options

  • Users preferred the horizontal design over the vertical design because it was easier to compare all the options at once.
  • The horizontal design also allowed for less scrolling.
  • On the Get Care page, users wanted the triage options to be higher up on the page, above the fold.
  • Users liked having "What's treated?" expanded by default on the Get Care page because they felt that information was valuable given the context.
  • However, for mobile screens, users preferred collapsed options due to less scrolling.


LIVE HOMEPAGE DESIGN



Based on the results of our user testing, we implemented some final changes to our designs before going live:

  • We opted for the horizontal layout of the digital triage options.
  • We kept the "What's treated?" sections collapsed.
  • The "Get Care Today" link in the main navigation stayed in the top left.


LIVE GET CARE PAGE DESIGN



We implemented the following changes to our designs based on user testing:

  • While we aimed to reduce the amount of space same-day appointments took at the top of the page, we were unable to get the other triage options above the fold (denoted as a dashed line). Part of this was due to internal politics. Our compromise was to have a prominent "Where can I go if I need care now?" heading above the fold to encourage users to scroll farther down the page.
  • We kept the "What's treated?" sections expanded.


LIVE MOBILE DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS



With user testing results in mind, we made the following changes to our mobile versions of the Home and Get Care pages:

  • Since users felt the "Get Care Today" navigation link outside of the hamburger menu made the top area too busy, we opted to implement it as a standard link within the hamburger menu (see images below).
  • On the Get Care page, we kept the "What's treated?" sections collapsed to give users faster access to all of their options.


Reflection





This project was a success in many ways, achieving our primary objective: creating an accessible online tool to help users make informed healthcare decisions during a period of significant medical uncertainty. Our solution garnered positive feedback, with users expressing excitement about the platform and eagerly anticipating its launch.


Challenges and Conflict Resolution

One of the key challenges we faced was balancing business priorities with user needs. Navigating this tension required compromise and creative problem-solving. By implementing a "Where can I go if I need care now?" prompt to encourage users to explore triage options further down the page, we maintained some focus on virtual care while meeting the business goal of highlighting same-day appointments. Although I would have preferred to prioritize triage options above the fold, this experience reinforced the importance of aligning user advocacy with business objectives in a practical way.


Key Takeaways for Stakeholder Engagement

If given more time, I would have introduced a stakeholder mapping exercise and conducted more in-depth interviews. This would have allowed me to better understand stakeholder motivations, fostering stronger collaboration and potentially finding a more balanced solution sooner. This project underscored the value of communication and negotiation in managing stakeholder expectations.



Leave a message




Like what you see?
Drop me a line and I will get back to you soon.








send




Icons by Noun Project