A mobile solution empowering ER nurses to manage patient expectations by providing patients with real time wait updates, smooth staff handoffs, and respectful patient to nurse communication channels.
MY ROLE
Lead UX Researcher
Product Designer
Project Manager
COLLABORATORS
Amanda Wan
Cynthia Du
Ashley Hu
SKILLS
UX Research
Interaction Design
Prototyping
TIMELINE
14 Weeks
Sept-Dec 2024
(School Project)
THE PROBLEM
Majority of nurses are experiencing burnout.
62%
50%
of medical errors are more likely
to occur when nurses are
stressed and in poor health.
How might we help newly graduated registered nurses manage their workloads more effectively, while fostering deeper patient connections,
to reduce burnout and improve patient care?
THE SOLUTION
A dual-interface mobile solution that helps nurses manage their patient loads through streamlined patient tracking and handoffs, while giving patients transparent updates.
CAREQUEUE FOR NURSES
Home Screen
Choose Patient to Notify
Set Wait Time for Patient
CAREQUEUE FOR PATIENTS
Invite Contact to Wait Together
Home Screen
Chatroom with Nurse & Family
THE PROCESS
Identifying the pain points of the current situation.
After conducting secondary research to gauge the scope of the problem, I led primary research interviews to uncover key insights about the current state of nursing and nursing education.
UCI Nursing
Nursing professor
🫡
🫡
Current nurse
Pharmacy
Medical
Medical
AR/VR Expert
Biola nursing
KEY
Current Nurse
Healthcare Instructor
Nursing/Medical Student
VR/AR Expert
Synthetic Users
NURSE PAIN POINT
1/3 of new grad nurses feel underprepared for real-world practice, contributing to burnout, missed patient connections, and medical errors.
“Time management is the major problem. Nurses always struggle with not having enough time.”
— Healthcare Instructor
PATIENT PAIN POINT
Many patients leave the emergency department without being seen due to long wait times and poor communication.
Over 32% of patients in a study
waited more than 3 hours before
leaving without being seen
76% of patients say posting wait times
would improve overall satisfaction with the emergency department
IDENTIFYING OPPORTUNITIES
Primary goal: to reduce burnout and improve communication
We explored behavioral continuums to map key differences in how nurses approach tasks, while the user type matrix organized these behaviors into distinct nurse personas to pin-point the nurse type that struggles the most.
WORKLOAD MANAGEMENT BEHAVIORAL CONTINUUM
WORKLOAD MANAGEMENT USER TYPE MATRIX
PATIENT CONNECTION & COMMUNICATION BEHAVIORAL CONTINUUM
PATIENT CONNECTION & COMMUNICATION USER TYPE MATRIX
WHO WE'RE DESIGNING FOR
DESIGN THINKING
Ideating for Devon, our overloaded and overlooked ER Nurse
HMW help new grad ER nurses manage their workloads more efficiently to reduce burnout and improve patient care?
HMW increase the quality of communication between busy ER nurses and their patients (and patients' families)?
Patient Management Tool
Mobile communication tool between patients & nurses
PAPER PROTOTYPING & USABILITY TESTING
Then we got out our ideas onto paper to create quick prototypes that can immediately test our solutions.
USABILITY TEST KEY FINDINGS
Navigation Icons are Unclear
When asked to go to the Notify screen to add a new patient to the waitlist, users did not know which icon to navigate to get to the Notify Screen. The bell icon by itself was not clear enough.
Reassigning patients is confusing
When asked to reassign their patients and to leave a note, users felt confused whether they had successfully carried out the task due to the repetition of screens.
REVISIONS
FINAL DESIGNS:
Introducing CareQueue for Nurses
Notify Wait-Times
Update Wait-Times
Taking a Break
Notify new patients
their estimated wait
& directly view list
of patients prioritized
by wait-time.
Click to Explore Features
FINAL DESIGNS:
Introducing CareQueue for Patients
Share Wait Time
Request Updates
Group Chat
Patients can see their
wait-time & invite family or friends to view to reduce constant updates.
Click to Explore Features
WHAT I LEARNED
The best product ideas often come from listening, not ideating.
As the lead UX researcher, I learned that listening is my superpower. By diving deep into both primary and secondary research, I uncovered unspoken needs and these insights directed a design that reflected real people’s experiences.
The research and design process is nothing but linear.
We started our focus with undergrad nursing students, but research revealed a deeper need among new grad nurses. As the project manager, I learned that staying open and being willing to pivot led to richer insights and greater impact.
NEXT STEPS
Do another round of testing
Find out how the prototype could change if tested on real ER nurses.
Expand the Use Case
Explore how this product might serve different healthcare workers.