Define

After analyzing input from local care providers and the NYU medical team who was based in Tamale, Ghana, over the prior 18 months, I defined the greatest needs for the design to address. I learned of a variety of frustrations and pain points that providers face, from inconsistent support to guidelines that don't consider their resource-limited context.

Problem Statement

Abu is a Ghanian medical doctor working in a resource limited environment in Northern Ghana. He needs quick, consistent access to contextualized clinical guidelines to provide excellent care for his patients because a consistent standard of care is often lacking or difficult to achieve when time and consulting resources are extremely limited.

We also mapped out a variety of user journeys based on each Persona and the specific ways in which they might access or use the pathways when learning or with patients.

Ideate

Working from the problems we defined, I used the "How might we?" brainstorming exercise to reframe the user problems into opportunities for solutions. Some of the HMW questions included:
‍
How might we mimic the in-person decision making process?

How might we sustain access to Clinical Pathways for users with low or inconsistent internet access?

How might we ensure more care providers find out about the app?

How might we make the clinical pathways more collaborative and educational?

Competitive Audit

I audited a variety of existing clinical pathway apps addressing different audiences and areas of focus. I looked at their features and identified strengths or areas for improvement based on online reviews as well as direct feedback from medical professionals who used each of them.

Goal Statement

Our Clinical Pathways app will let users review contextualized clinical guidelines from anywhere which will affect medical care providers by providing quick, searchable access to contextualized guidelines designed around a specific, resource-limited setting. We will measure the effectiveness by weekly use, shares among colleagues, and post-launch user surveys.

A goal statement was created to focus the scope of our design and ensure it solves for the core needs of the user.

Wireframes

Following the proposed sitemap, I laid out concepts through paper wireframes. This allowed me to iterate on several layouts – especially for the Home and Library pages – before designing wireframes in Figma.

Testing & Impact

We are working on testing the hi-fi prototype with our care provider users in Ghana. We will be conducting usability studies to validate our ideas and uncover any usability issues that need to be addressed. We'll keep iterating on the design as we look for funding for development.

Expected Impact

Increased Mobile Access to Pathways

Before the mobile app, less than 6% of care providers were accessing the pathways on the website's PDF library. We expect a significant increase due to ease of use and built-in sharing capabilities.

Greater Confidence in Decision Making

With 83.8% of providers sharing that the printed and PDF-based Clinical Pathways had a positive impact on their clinical decision making, we expect easier access to continue to increase confidence for providers.

Increased Quality of Care

Nine out of ten care providers (89.2%) mentioned an increased consistency and quality of care. We expect this effect to multiply especially when the app is made available to providers in neighboring communities as well.

Next Steps

With a tested and fully designed Clinical Pathways app, we'll look to secure funding for development and rollout of the app to care providers at Tamale Teaching Hospital, the Northern Region, and hopefully, throughout Ghana.