Kroger Little Clinic Manager
Case Study
Introduction:
After the adoption of a newly created design system, there was a push to implement across all products company-wide and update the UX accordingly for over 100 locations.
One part of the wider product suite was a scheduling tool that could also handle calendar views as well as user and patient information.
Problem Statement:
The previous tool has reached its limits in terms of scalability and power to connect to other internal apps causing a mess of problems including duplicated appointments, patients, and no way to conveniently edit information without needing to submit IT tickets which takes precious time away from healthcare providers with very little other time to spare working with patients. Our job was to determine current pain points and deliver a tool that would free up time for providers, while also creating a seamless experience for patients to schedule appointments with our client.
Research:
Stakeholder Interviews
Using different methodologies, rose bud thorn, MoSCoW, targeting, and user storyboards.
User Interviews
Discovery sessions
Team-wide meetings to uncover current pain points and understand the limitations of the proposed tech stack.
Multiple teammates visited numerous facilities to understand the workflow from physical to digital workflows from in-patient discussions to marking dates for usable vaccines.
Design Process:
Working with the design system team to understand the limits of components while also providing needs for new components in new systems. Working with other teammates in the space to understand how they are using common components to create a pattern of recognition to benefit users who use different apps across the suite.
Internal and external design reviews.
In-person and virtual user research to test designs and gather feedback.
Solution:
With our list of requirements fully developed, we concluded a need for a set of workflows needed to complete complex tasks including an approval queue for providers to schedule appointments, a system needed for reporting that also is compliant with HIPAA in every data point needed for a healthcare provider. Order type management for users to be able to understand which medicine to buy and see the progress of where those orders are in progress as well as vendor management to create, edit, and view vendors that provide needed tools and medicine.
Results:
Time to approve and rate current appointments decreased
Patient satisfaction increased along with other teams in the space that worked with physical schedulers
Duplications of patients decreased
Unused and discarded vaccines decreased leading to savings from not over-buying
Reflection:
This was a very heavy actual user-involved product which only helped in the continued success for the tool. We got to understand exactly how many different people use the system and in different ways. Finding the middle ground for some people, elevating the game for others, and hitting the nail on the head for a majority of users was great to find. It’s always best to be able to provide that data instead of listening to a manager saying “Well this is what I want them to do, and this is how they should do it.” When they themselves don’t even use the tool. Users over everyone.
Tables tables tables, trying to put so much information in tables is not always the best, but it was what we had to use at the time. I would like to try a couple of other iterations besides tables because it’s just data overload and I think there are other solutions available that could reduce cognitive load.
Overall, a talented smooth-working team and a copious amount of information gathered from providers ended up in a product and experience that was leagues better than the previous tool, but with room to grow and still improve