Healthcare UX is about enhancing the experience of healthcare technology and services. Unlike other consumer interfaces, where users are in a completely different state of mind who are going through some kind of condition/disease. So, imagine a person who is already not in the best of condition uses a complicated system that ends up worsening it. On the other hand, a doctor's job is also not a cakewalk. They have to deal with patients at different stages of their condition and be empathetic too. Here are the 9 challenges faced in optimizing the usability, accessibility, and making the experience pleasurable:
- Users should be motivated enough to keep using the interface. This can be achieved by showing the impact of using the technology on doctors and the progress of the patient's condition.
- Progress of his recovery should be visible but as per the laws you can’t directly tell the users how well they are recovering as recovery is a subjective thing
- Language and terminology used by a doctor need not be the same as the ones used by doctors
- Next best actions should be clearly visible in the given context as bad navigation can very easily throw off the user
- Making an application behave like a nurse or doc. Adding that level of empathy in technology requires a great deal of craftsmanship in UX Copywriting
- Achieving business goals could be tough. The harsh reality of this domain is that just keeping a patient on track wouldn’t help make money
- Primary research could be tough, as talking to a patient who is suffering from a serious illness could be very difficult. Especially in these times when everything has become online, talking to a patient without actually being able to understand his body language can hinder the flow of conversation.
- Researches are not easily available as Healthcare UX is still in a very nascent field right now
- Making people understand the importance of tools & services other than medication
A solution to most of the above challenges is to keep the stakeholders in the loop while designing the system as no one is closer to the experience as they are. This will not only help in transforming the physical experience into digital but also taking it to the next level.