Application & System
Improving the hospital waiting experience
February - June 2016
UMCG
Context
Waiting is never pleasant. It’s especially unpleasant inside a waiting room in any hospital. As a study assignment, the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) came to us with a problem. More often than not, the situation regarding the wait the patients had to endure was unclear, which created unnecessary stressful situations. The UMCG asked us to help think about the issue in one of their clinics. As second-year students, it was up to us to investigate the current situation in the waiting room and come up with a solution that would alleviate the waiting.
UMCG
Research
With a five-man team we started researching into the current situation in the waiting room. Since the privacy of patients was highly important it was mandatory to act in an appropriate manner as to not further bother patients. This led us to mainly observing the patients inside the waiting room, supported by some short interviews later on. Based on the results of this preliminary research we developed a concept in which a new application would be central. This application would display information the patients’ own doctors, appointments and perhaps most importantly, the waiting times. I had taken on the task of designing the application from start to finish; from the first ideas to the final working prototype.
Prototyping
Testing
In order to develop this newly design application into a working prototype, interim practical tests were carried out, during which we tested every seperate design stage of the application. From the beginning on the project involved continuous testing, ever since the first version of the working (wireframe) prototype was developed. After every test, which ranged from an extensive evaluation test with an expert within the UX/UI working environment, to the use of eye trackers with the actual target group, we implemented improvements in order to further develop and perfect the application. This has led to the high-quality prototype that we ultimately showcased and delivered.
High-fidelity prototype
Final screen designs
Result
Interactive prototype
In order to get a good impression of what the final application would look like, I developed a working and interactive prototype through the use of Axure.
