Project Outline

The Assignment - Review the current patient intake form (paper version) and digitize it to use in a doctor’s office on a tablet/ iPad.

The Research

Before-Paper Version

Before starting, I wanted to list down the features in the existing form. Understand what is necessary, to take forward and features that could be dropped. Pinpoint why do we need a complete SSN? cant we verify with the last four digits. Is gender the same as sexuality? how is the paper version better? or is it better?

Further more to find opportunities I decided to understand a patient’s journey to filling the form. From entering into the office to handing the form over. identify user’s actions, what they think and feel, pain points that would lead to opportunities.

Wireframes

For the design, I decided to keep it simple by asking fewer questions on each page for quicker responses (not overwhelming the patient/user) and go easy. I divided the form into -

• Personal information

• Contact Information

• Insurance information, and

• Health condition.

Critique / Feedback

The peer feedback session pinpointed many useful points, that helped me reshape my approach. for eg. who is a new patient? ( someone who has not received service from the doctor/medical institute in the past three years).

Final Design

In the end, I really wanted to keep filling a form simple and easy for the user. By choosing a clean and legible typeface. reducing the number of clicks to open options. keeping text descriptions short and simple. Adding brief explanation statements where needed (eg. under SSN, new patient information). Providing timely error states and messages. An interactive pain rating. Adding anytime help call, and wait time notification.

Check out my interactive patient intake form.

Takeaways

Redesigning a form is more complex than it seems. As a designer, I had to constantly ask ‘why?’ and ‘how?’ questions. ‘why do the hospitals need full SSN?’, ‘ how will the patient/ user know how much form is left?’. I realized understanding user journey and their actions, was the best way to highlight design opportunities. I was criticized for adding many steps in the form. But it is necessary to lower the cognitive load of the user by presenting one task at a time.

I have tried to keep the design simple, consistent (terminology and command), and responsive (system feedback).

This form needn’t necessarily be filled in the doctor’s office but something that can be sent before the appointment, so the user may fill it at their own comfort.

One thing I lacked is considering the user’s language preference as to how important for it to be visible and not be hidden under settings.