Healthcare has become digital. There are countless apps that can track and help within different health areas and with COVID-19, the necessity to move health services became imminent. Thus, the necessity for UX within healthcare also became imminent. Other factors such as the ageing population phenomenon and the role of designing for technologies such as Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence means that healthcare will continue to become digital. 

Healthcare UX/UI refers to the design of user experience within healthcare products or services. This can be seen in electronic or digital health records, appointment scheduling apps or softwares, or disease management apps. The difference between Healthcare UX/UI and traditional or regular UX/UI is that, since it deals with services or products related to health, the risks and dangers of a bad UX/UI design are more sensitive and can have bigger impacts in a person’s life. For example, a glucose metre must have a proper UX and be able to accurately measure insulin levels. A fault in this could damage a person’s health greatly. 

However, good UX in healthcare can bring massive benefits to both patients and professionals within the healthcare industry. It can even empower patients and improve their lives. There are healthcare products and apps that can give patients the possibility to, to an extent, look after their health, rehabilitate at home, and remove the train that hospitals and healthcare centres can often bring. However the digitalization and the UX of healthcare has had a slow process to get to where it is today. Covid-19 definitely fast-forwarded this process but traditionally, healthcare has been slow to adapt to digital technologies. since in the past, digitalization of files and documents often clashed with professional’s time with patients and doubled their working hours. Today, we can see certain trends in UX healthcare and this is expected to continue being relevant within the healthcare industry. Here are some trends in UX healthcare that can be seen today: 

Telemedicine

Telemedicine refers to the ability or the technology that allows professionals to remotely treat patients rather than patients showing up to a hospital or doctor’s office. This can now be done via healthcare apps, remote monitoring tools, and video consultations. The role of UX and UI here is to guide a patient through the experience without any usability issues and to also be able to design for different patients; therefore taking in mind characteristics such as age, mental state, language, and technical skills. 

Wearable Health-tech

Smartwatches and fitness tracking apps have been around for some time but the constant advances in technology have allowed apps to evolve, expand, and enhance their usability. A couple of years ago smartphones and fitness tracking apps were only used to count steps or monitor sleep patterns. Today, they are also able to monitor vital signs, measure body mass index or heartbeat irregularities. The key element in the success of these types of apps is their usability. Simplicity, usability, connectivity, and data handling have to be at the core of an app’s development. 

Augmented reality and Virtual Reality in Healthcare

With Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) healthcare professionals are now able to use technologies to do tasks such as complete training programs without putting at risk the life and health of real-life patients. It has also been a very valuable tool that has allowed professionals to diagnose medical conditions via in-depth body scans which are also more accurate and allows doctors to show their patient’s what is happening with their bodies as they perform medical procedures or treatments. The role of designers here is to ensure a correct beta test or products and platforms, to be able to get feedback from patients and provide a positive experience. 

So where is healthcare going? 

And consequently: Where is UX in healthcare going? 

The future of healthcare UX aims to be more accessible. As populations age, manye age-related factors will affect older people’s abilities to use websites, apps, and other digital products. Therefore, UX and UI design must find a way to design inclusive and successful experiences for these demographics. For example, being able to alter text size options, colour variations, and simple navigation. Ultimately, the goal of healthcare UX is to use human-centred design to significantly improve the quality of people’s health and shape the future of healthcare. 

Savant is informed by market research and has a specialised Digital Design team with extensive experience and expertise in UX/UI talent solutions. If you are looking to build or expand your Design and/or Development function, we can support you with the best talent in the industry with experts and market leading onboarding advice and consultation. To find out more about how we can assist you, please reach out to us at technology@savantrecruitment.com