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Overview / Designed an end-to-end Case Management platform to improve efficiency of the process
Role / Sole Designer
Tools/ Figma
Timeline/ 3 weeks
Status/ Testing stage!
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Inaccessible and unaffordable healthcare is a huge issue in developing countries. This problem has gotten worse since the pandemic started so a group of volunteers set up a free-of-cost telehealth clinic to connect patients living in rural areas with medical Consultants around the world who could provide free medical insights and treatment.
While I was volunteering for them as an Administrative assistant, I noticed firsthand how inefficient the process was as it was built on the fly and it currently runs the same way. There is no systematic approach to how each Clinical Case is handled. The (lack of) process has a direct impact on the efficiency of the volunteers.
To try to help these volunteers out and address this problem, I designed and proposed a web solution that systemizes the process of handling each Case and consolidates the existing data in a more accessible and organized form.
The existing solution is a system of WhatsApp group chats and several Google Drive folders with Spreadsheets of patient history records and contact numbers.
An overview of how each clinical case is handled looks roughly like this:
Clinical Case Managers are at the heart of the system. They interact with Consultants, patients, hospitals and laboratories. Therefore, to narrow down the problem, I focused on developing a solution that could help them manage a case in its entirety.
To better understand my user’s needs and frustrations, I observed the entire process of how a case is managed from start to finish. After synthesizing the information I gathered, I created a user journey map of their experience of managing a case and pin-pointed the 4 main areas of focus.
#1
There is no consistent process or a structured flow of the different steps of managing and monitoring a case. This puts high cognitive load on the Case Manager.
#2
Patient records and Consultant information isn’t consolidated and stored in an organized way. They are spread out in various Spreadsheets and Google Drive folders therefore there is poor documentation and organization.
#3
There is no scheduling system that helps record upcoming appointments with patients. It’s assumed that case managers use external modes if they want to stay organized. They are expected to recall rather than recognize information.
#4
Since Case Managers are physicians themselves, they are expected to remember which Consultants and hospitals could best treat a certain problem. This puts a constraint on the current system that all Case Managers have to be physicians therefore the clinic can’t scale quickly. Again, there is high cognitive load.
Based on these 4 problem areas, I narrowed down my overarching goal to focus on improving efficiency of the whole process. Having a more efficient process would mean more patients could be treated in the same amount of time which ultimately aligns with why these Case Managers want to volunteer in the first place.
Reflecting on the pain points, I brainstormed several key features that the application would need to have to make the process more efficient.
I iterated over my main Case page design and highlighted several strengths and weaknesses of each design.
Based on my iterations and validating the designs against standard design principles and guidelines, I decided to go with iteration #3. Even though there could be a learning curve when trying to understand how the system works, it would eventually make Case Manager’s job a lot easier.
This design also aligns with the overall goal of the system which is to ensure Case Managers have quick access to all the important Case related information in one place. Presenting it upfront in one screen so they can glance at it and know what’s going on would help them achieve this goal.
I then designed high-fidelity prototypes of my solution and added interactions to present the entire flow from beginning to end.
1.
Case Manager gets notified about the case and they schedule a call with the patient
2.
Case Manager collects the patient’s medical history during the call
3.1
Case Manager adds a Consultant with the right expertise to the case
3.2
Consultant adds reviews and either choose to prescribe medications directly or refer patient to a hospital or request lab investigations to be done and then repeat the process until patient is treated
4.
Case Manager then downloads a summary of the case and attaches it to the respective Consultant's file for future records
This project is still work-in-progress. Going forward, I want to conduct a structured usability testing session with the current Case managers and get their input on how intuitive the flow is. I would also need to consider and address edge cases because some patients could require treatment that would be out of scope of the Consultants or the hospitals available.
I believe this solution does have the potential to systemize the entire process and it could replace the several different applications Case managers are currently using. This systematic and organized approach could also attract more people to volunteer for the cause and help give back to society.
