iKnowMed G2 Dashboard  -  McKesson Speciality Health

ROLE: UX DESIGN INTERN

INTERACTION DESIGN & INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

JUNE 2016 - SEP 2016

SKETCH, AXURE RP, ADOBE PHOTOSHOP

About

iKnowMed Generation 2 is the leading oncology EHR (electronic health record) software. Used by over 80% of the industry, oncology specialists use iKnowMed G2 to manage their patient care. iKnowMed's primary users are oncology specialists, who tend to be older and don't use as much technology, so usability of this app, especially to those who haven't grown up around much technology, is of most importance. 

I worked with product designers and product managers on a redesign of the main Dashboard and My Tasks section of the application. I was initially tasked with only the a redesign of the Dashboard, but I learned I needed to overhaul the entire homepage. I learned how different users in a practice use the app, and prioritized usability and efficiency in the design.

As an Intern I was the primary designer for the project. I took user’s feedback on current usability and concepts from the product designers to create a functional prototype for Usability Testing at the Physician Advisory Board Meeting in September 2016.

The Problem

The primary users of iKnowMed G2 are oncology specialists, which tend to be older than others doctors due to the length of education needed to practice oncology. In addition to this, computer displays in practices tend to be dated, and on the smaller side. Screen real estate is a concern as the widgets do not scale properly, and as a result, information is not displayed correctly, including commonly used information. Upon opening the application, users routinely make changes to the interface to suit their needs. These factors together make the Dashboard and My Tasks unpleasant to use. Initially, the project was to redesign just the dashboard, though during the design process I learned that a redesign of the dashboard also has to include a redesign of the My Tasks section as well. I go into detail in the following section. 

Research: Why Redesign both My Tasks and Dashboard?

I learned how different office roles use the dashboard uniquely, how people opportunistically use the dashboard, and the most commonly used widgets to drive the redesign of the Dashboard and My Tasks section. As the app is used across the entire oncology practice, the main specialist uses the dashboard much differently than a receptionist or nurse. Even different practices would use the app differently and would use both Dashboard & My Tasks together in unique ways.

I met with a number of doctors across the country, who are close customers of iKnowMed G2, on-site at McKesson. I had the privilege of meeting with them to learn more about how they use the product. I let them know I was trying to redesign dashboard, and focused my questions on their use and experience with it. I asked a few developers on where I can get access to some analytics on G2. One of them graciously helped me in getting analytics and forming the heatmap shown above. 

Research Takeaways:

• Users most often collapse the My Tasks section to make more space for the dashboard.

  • Newer users would usually attempt to close each My Tasks widget before learned to collapse the entire section.

• Users create multiple dashboard tabs and place one maximized widget in each - usually to help with screen size issues and widget responsiveness.

Prototyping

The initial design categorized widgets by nature of use, into three sections: My Tasks, Dashboard, and Toolbox. The information dispayed is the most used information for that speciifc widget. The purpose of this design is to show the user the exactly relevant information at a glance. The buttons are associated with the intended use of the section. Action button for actionable tasks to complete, info button for consuming facts, figures, and other patient information,

Prototyping: New Iteration

After receiving feedback and going back and forth with other product designers and managers, I learned that this design did not enable the user customize their page to their liking, and although the widgets displayed less information, there were still 3 columns and it still felt cluttered to the user and hard to find information.

The new design considerations for the next iteration were:

1. Enabling the user to customize their Dashboard by categorizing the widgets by nature of use.

2. Decreasing the amount of widgets displayed at once to better use screen space and free mental clutter.

3. Enable easy access to the full-size widget from abbreviated widget when needed.

4. Move the toolbox elsewhere, as its not being used enough to warrant occupying a third of the screen.

Final prototype for user testing

Feedback from users said that tabs would not be used too much, as they can easily access the widgets from the library on the right. This design enables the user to customize the page to their liking by dragging the widget directly to the page (1). There are only two columns, resulting in less cognitive load for the user (2). The vertical collapse button on the widgets enables the user to expand to the full view of the widget (3). The toolbox was moved under a button called "Reports" along the top of the app (4). This prototype was used for testing at the annual Physician Advisory Board meeting in Las Vegas.