The healthcare IT arena is extremely chaotic. The systems that support this industry in most cases mirror this complicated environment. The physicians, hospitals and healthcare organizations that are answering the call to adopt systems that will help promote better patient care are looking for sophisticated systems that are simple to use.
Simplifying the complex is easier said than done. Came across a well done (simple) video this morning while scrolling through Twitter called Why is technology so hard to use? by Jonathan Arnold. It discusses why systems look and feel complicated. The video goes on to talk about the importance of incorporating the user (from the beginning) into system design for a better user experience. This is definitely an art, and again, is easier to just talk about. Healthcare systems that focus (and continue to focus) on user experience have an advantage.
We were fortunate in the beginning, during our initial product/system design to have two important ingredients – 1) a client (a pathology lab) that provided a system user perspective and 2) a co-founder that understands the importance of user experience. This formula allowed us to create a sophisticated platform that was simple to use and deploy. As we’ve added to our user base, we’ve incorporated their perspectives. These influences add more complexities, so it is a constant work in progress to keep things simple.
How important is simplicity to you?
If you are a system designer, how do you keep focus on the user experience?