Seamlessly Integrated into the Pharmacist Workflow
EasyDrugs Pharmacist Portal
EasyDrugs is an online Canadian pharmacy offering health services and personal shopping from the comfort of home. It connects patients to their local pharmacies to make their complicated medication plans manageable.
The EasyDrugs pharmacist portal is a web-based app that allows pharmacists to verify, adjudicate, and ship prescription orders from patients.
I was part of the team that redesigned the existing pharmacist portal to seamlessly integrate it into the pharmacists’ workflow.
To comply with my non-disclosure agreement, I have omitted confidential information in this case study. All information in this case study is my own and does not necessarily reflect the views of EasyDrugs.
The problem:
The challenge:
How can we seamlessly integrate the EasyDrugs portal into the pharmacists’ workflow?
My role:
I led the redesign of the pharmacist portal. I conducted user experience research and collaborated with 3 pharmacists, 3 developers, and 1 marketing specialist.
The impact:
We increased our average single ease question to 6.7/7 per task from 4.5/7.
For confidentiality reasons, I have omitted the actual values for this metrics.
The demo
Kickoff:
We conducted moderated user testing with our partner pharmacists to observe how they are using the EasyDrugs beta portal.
We conducted tests with both existing users to assess how they navigate through the product, as well as new users to gather insights about first impressions.
We conducted an end-to-end testing process, starting from receiving the prescription order from the patient all the way to shipping the package.
We also conducted field studies to observe the typical workflow of a pharmacy, as well as observe how they use pharmacy management tools.
Initial insights from the user testing:
"What do I need to work on?"
After logging in, pharmacists were redirected to a dashboard. The dashboard displayed data visualization, but pharmacists expected to be able to interact with the graphs.
Participants clicked on the orders card expecting it to open a list of orders, for example.
Screenshots of EasyDrugs Beta portal
"It's hard to compare the information, I have to keep scrolling up and down."
When verifying an order, pharmacists need to compare information, such as patients’ details, prescription details, doctor information, etc. Because of the vertical design of the current portal, pharmacists had to scroll up and down to compare the information.
Screenshots of EasyDrugs Beta portal
"It wasn't obvious that I needed to change the status."
A prescription order goes through different stages, and each stage is represented by a status. When an order comes in, it will be labeled as “New”. Pharmacists will then verify the prescription. Once it has been adjudicated, the patient can now be notified that the prescription is ready for payment.
During testing, it wasn’t clear to the pharmacists that they have to manually change the status using a dropdown.
"Generally, when you’re going to process something, you usually click to process it, as opposed to changing a status."
Screenshot of EasyDrugs Beta portal
"How can I add the cost?"
During the adjudication phase, pharmacists need to add the cost of each drug. The majority of the first-time users were not able to figure out where and how to add the cost.
Screenshot of EasyDrugs Beta portal
Adapting the UX and UI to the FHIR Structure:
Since we are redesigning the experience, we also wanted to explore if we can incorporate the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) guidelines into our new design. FHIR allows healthcare information to be exchanged between systems regardless of how it was stored.
I collaborated with developers to have a better understanding of the structure of information.
Whiteboard mapping of FHIR structure
Based on our brainstorming, we established a layered approach on how we will present the data to both patients and pharmacists.
Whiteboard mapping of FHIR structure
We adapted the information architecture to follow the FHIR structure.
High level flow based on FHIR
The pharmacist portal redesign:
Focus
We minimized the clutter of the dashboard and allowed pharmacists to focus on the task that they need to complete.
Screenshot of pharmacy portal redesign
"I could tell that there is a new request."
Compare
Pharmacists are used to how pharmacy management software works. When they are verifying a prescription, they need to compare different information. In Kroll, one of the pharmacy management systems that they use, information is displayed in boxes on the same screen.
Screenshot taken from Kroll
We took a similar approach in our redesign. We designed three panels that scroll independently and allow pharmacists to conveniently compare the information.
Request details redesign
"Naturally, eyes go left to right. Very intuitive. Pharmacists are used to boxes like Kroll, more intuitive than pharmacy software. Have everything you need."
Streamline
No need to manually change the status of the prescription. The status will automatically update once pharmacists move the prescription through the workflow.
Request verification redesign
"It's clear that there's only one action I need to do here."
Intuitive
During our initial user testing, the majority of the first-time users were not able to add the cost. In our redesign, we made sure that the cost fields are visible when the pharmacist opens the prescription order.
“This one is easier and better. I can add cost without leaving the screen.”
How we got there:
Questions I wanted to answer when we started our design exploration:
What is a typical pharmacy workflow?
How can the EasyDrugs pharmacist portal make the process more efficient?
How are pharmacists using the EasyDrugs pharmacist beta portal?
User testing - Beta portal
By conducting usability testing with both existing and new users of the beta portal, we were able to identify the usability issues and design patterns that do not align with the pharmacists’ mental models.
Field study
We observed pharmacists as they completed tasks and followed their current workflows in their pharmacies. We saw how they used the pharmacist management tools and identified how the EasyDrugs portal can be incorporated into their workflow.
Collaboration
I closely collaborated with the developers to make sure that the redesign is aligned with how the health data is structured.
User flow
Mapping out the flow gave us an overview of how the patient app will interact with the pharmacist portal.
Prototyping
Using Figma, we went through multiple iterations of the design.
User testing
We were able to validate our assumptions by conducting user testing with pharmacists. We learned that being able to compare patient, prescription, and drug information in the new design fits perfectly with our users’ mental model.
