User-Centered Design in Developing Medical Software: Why It Matters

Medical software development is a challenge that many companies fail to overcome for many reasons, including the lack of relevant experience or inability to meet stringent compliance requirements. However, the real issue often lies in their inability to build specialized software with the end user in mind. In this article, we examine the fundamental value of user experience for medical software of various types and explore the role of user-centered design in creating healthcare-related solutions that people appreciate and trust.

What is user-centered design (UCD)?

According to Interaction Design Foundation, one of the largest online design schools in the world, user-centered design is: “An iterative design process in which designers focus on the users and their needs in each phase of the design process. In UCD, design teams involve users throughout the design process via a variety of research and design techniques, to create highly usable and accessible products for them.” By definition, end users are the subject of the design process, and it is around the users’ personas and their respective needs that the software is built. A schematic view of of the UCD paradigm

Source: UX Planet User-centered design is often used in combination with similar concepts like human-centered design (a somewhat wider, overarching notion) and user-driven development (UDD), two approaches to building software interfaces that deeply prioritize users’ needs and preferred scenarios for accomplishing particular tasks. Now that we know what UCD stands for, let’s find out why it’s so important — and particularly for medical application design and development.

Why is user-centered design so important to consider in developing medical software?

Healthcare is a sensitive domain. We all prefer strictly confidential, direct communications with our healthcare providers and opt for the shortest route possible from our medical need to a professional capable of taking care of it. No one likes getting stuck in the middle of lengthy and complicated registration processes when dealing with health concerns. Users on the other side of the fence — doctors, nurses, other medical staff, and representatives of healthcare services — are equally interested in having access to convenient, informative, and easy-to-use interfaces for key features and functions, whether it’s an EHR system, a scheduling tool, or any other type of modern patient engagement software. A good example of a healthcare app built for the user would be one that can be effortlessly used by both the general public and senior citizens or people with special accessibility needs. Such an application will likely have:

Large, clearly visible control elements that are easy to interact with
Straightforward user flows and intuitive wizards
Ability to easily go back and correct previously entered information
Automatic data visualization
Hard-to-miss alerts across a variety of channels
Personalization features that reduce the amount of manual data entry for recurring use cases

Good medical software design helps boost user engagement and retention, improve productivity, enhance data accuracy, and, ultimately, lead to better patient outcomes. What happens when UCD is not part of the equation? Since virtually all software products are created by humans for humans, one would think that user comfort would be a natural, default priority. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Healthcare software solutions are often built with functionality designated as the highest priority that prevails over everything else. Here are just a few examples:

Self-service kiosks at clinics and medical centers occasionally turn out to be navigationally confusing and overwhelming not just for seniors, but also for regular users who know their way around computers and digital interfaces.
Online scheduling systems may still require manual intervention or follow-ups by medical personnel to confirm appointment details and time.
Developers of mobile healthcare apps can get carried away by the desire to cover all the bases, making the core function nearly indiscernible under layers of auxiliary features.
Clinical software systems are typically built by developers with little to no understanding of hospital routines or UX design in healthcare. In addition, they rarely offer significantly more day-to-day comfort and efficiency compared to the usual paper-, CRM-, or email-based workflows.

These are exactly the types of issues that UCD aims to address through the use of a comprehensive design framework and adherence to several key principles. Let’s take a deeper look at what they are all about.

What are the pillars of user-centered design?

The primary objective of UCD in medical software development is to step into patients’ and doctors’ shoes and build the entire engineering process around their needs, сapabilities, limitations, expectations, and continuous feedback. In more formal terms, these principles translate into four key principles.

Empathy and user research

If you are a UI/UX designer or engineer developing healthcare software solutions, your work should not be based on your own assumptions and hypotheses. The UCD framework specifically states that every engineering decision should be based on observation and direct input from the designated target audience. Therefore, development activities must be preceded by a comprehensive user research stage that will provide answers in the 5W + 1H (who, what, when, where, why + how) format to define the actors, context, starting conditions, expected results, as well as special non-functional requirements presented by the reference user group.

Usability and accessibility

Although these qualities are typically considered generic and expected today, UX/UI design in healthcare does not always shine, especially when it comes to niche products and specialized applications. This is especially frustrating because medical healthcare software solutions are often used by people with disabilities of various types and medical personnel whose priorities revolve around fast access to the necessary functions and accurate data entry. The UCD framework prioritizes highly accessible design principles and encourages developers to ensure that their software can be efficiently used by the widest audience possible under any circumstances.

User-friendliness

UCD highlights the importance of thoughtful UX design in healthcare with a focus on real users’ ability to access every feature with minimum effort. To that end, interfaces are designed and continuously improved in close cooperation with people representing target user groups. Focusing on user-friendliness and well thought out, smart interface design can benefit patients and medical professionals by saving their time, helping them avoid navigation errors, and increasing the overall satisfaction with the product.

Iterative design and development

In UCD, things can change quickly. A successful UI that seems perfect during the initial release may not stay this way forever. User-centered design in healthcare software development recommends multiple development and design iterations based on a regular flow of user feedback and change requests. In summary, UCD:

Places usability and user-friendliness above the practice of imposing technology onto users
Designates the end user as the primary source of inspiration and guidance for UI/UX design
Makes continuous (and frequent) improvement and optimization iterations an integral part of the product’s life cycle

Now that we are familiar with the key elements of the user-centered design framework, let’s take a look at the practical steps of placing user-centered design at the core of healthcare software solutions.

Implementing UCD in medical software development

Companies that rely on user-centered design in their software development process observe the following model to ensure correct alignment with end users’ needs: User-Centered Design Diagram

User and context research

At this stage, the product engineering team conducts detailed research of target user groups and creates user personas — generalized and semi-fictional profiles of end users that reflect their key characteristics, opinions, attitudes, challenges, objectives, and desired usage scenarios. The information is collected in a variety of ways:

User surveys
User interviews
Focus group meetings
General research

The research should not only focus on who will be using the product, but also how and when. In other words, usage context has to be defined for every workflow.

Specification of requirements

Once user profiles are detailed enough, it’s time to align them with general business requirements. Defining the project scope requires a balanced approach that takes users’ needs into account on the one hand and the feasibility of implementing a reasonable number of features in one iteration on the other. In essence, the development team has to find the optimal areas of intersection between these two areas and document the requirements for the initial implementation phase.

Design and development

Once the requirements are captured and finalized, it’s time for some tangible deliverables to be produced. In the UCD framework, this translates into mockups, user journeys, wireframes, and, most importantly, high-quality dynamic prototypes that allow users to test-drive the proposed designs for various usage scenarios and suggest improvements, if needed. It is at this stage that product managers can make adjustments to every action flow and content page using techniques like card sorting, while constantly checking intermediate results against the initial set of requirements and user personas.

Testing and validation

User experience testing is arguably the most important part of medical software development. This is the stage where all previous hypotheses and work deliverables are put to a test and undergo a reality check. At this point, you give users full access to your prototypes and observe their behavior to detect any discrepancies between your simulated scenarios and actual users’ behavior. The feedback you receive during testing is taken into consideration, along with the scope of the product and updated product documentation.

Continuous improvement

User-centered design has an intrinsically repetitive, iterative nature. Whether it’s about taking a step back or starting from square one, constant reassessment of UI/UX efficiency is a key prerequisite for success in medical software adoption. The end of one UI/UX design iteration marks the beginning of a new one, based on how successful it was in terms of meeting requirements and users’ acceptance. This makes usability optimizations a part of a continuous cycle of improvement driven by users’ requests for changes and new functionalities.

Conclusion

User-centered design is a great comprehensive approach to building healthcare software solutions. UCD may add an extra level of complexity and cost to the start of any medical software development project. However, going the extra mile pays off immensely. From building safer, intuitive healthcare tools that users trust and rely on, to facilitating the work of medical professionals, user-centered design has the potential to cut operating costs and lead to substantially better patient outcomes. To kick off your user-centered design medical software project, enlist the help of Kanda’s professional UI/UX product team capable of supporting the process. Contact us today to initiate your UCD journey.