Design as a concept has matured from a largely artistic endeavour to an arena where problem solving is taking the centre stage. Today’s designers are seen as the core essential elements who solve problems, beginning with technological and social problems to increasingly complex prospects.

When we look closely into the life of doctors it becomes very evident that their lifestyle is beyond comprehensions with various roles they play. To design a solution which is meaningful to them and the organisations they work for is task threaded with observation, research, patience, creativity and lots of coffee.

There are many trusted sources from which you can get readily available information. I’ve chosen HIMSS EHR Usability Pain Point Survey as a starting point. The report clearly states the frustrations and associated functionalities which require a significant level of attention to encourage physician adoption.

Results from HIMSS Usability Pain Point Survey

Plan research, prepare for sessions and analyse findings. The idea is to bring physicians to participate in your design process. Now, it is important to maintain a balance between nailing the doctors with pointed questions Vs asking them about their neighbour’s dog. If you can clearly comprehend what I mean, after a couple of interviews with a good sample size, you will arrive at a persona like this (or maybe a better one).

It guides you through dramatic user stories, chilling workflows and eliminates any usability obstacles on key user journeys.

At this point of time, a designer should work closely with the functional team in a room stuffed with charts, whiteboards, post-its, sketch pens, scotch tapes, photographs, binder clips and nylon strings. The closer the room gets to appear like a crime scene investigation the better you are at your job.

By the end of this brainstorming session, you will have a complete picture of what a physician wants and why he wants it, whom he contacts and how he interacts, when he needs the information and where he expects it to be.

Make time to spend with the technology team at this point to design style guides, navigation, gestures, responsiveness, transitions and other micro-interactions that are crucial in communicating with the doctor. It’s not about how beautiful it looks; the main goal is ensuring that a doctor could deliberately differentiate between supportive texts, error messages, task notifications and emergency statements.

Validate your goals against what you have achieved. Perform AB tests with a close group of doctors and plan a short roadmap of improvements. Remember that a design that follows a methodological process will eventually end up being scalable and could accommodate more feature requests over time not because it was born out of a great Photoshop mockup but because of the consideration to physician’s needs.

In the end, the question is whether your design is usable, aesthetic, and human like a doctor’s touch.

It will be. Because you did not design alone!