Designing with the User: Empowering Healthcare through Digital Solutions

In an age where we are devel­op­ing appli­ca­tions and sys­tems to solve var­i­ous prob­lems, we some­times miss out on one very impor­tant fac­tor- address­ing the end users’ pain point/s- and thus end up devel­op­ing appli­ca­tions that nobody uses. 

As tech­nol­o­gy con­tin­ues to rev­o­lu­tion­ize the health­care indus­try, it is cru­cial to pri­or­i­tize the needs and expe­ri­ences of the users. We under­stand the sig­nif­i­cance of user-cen­tered design and its role in cre­at­ing effec­tive dig­i­tal health sys­tems. User-cen­tered design involves gain­ing a deep under­stand­ing of the tar­get audi­ence through con­ver­sa­tions, obser­va­tion, and co-cre­ation. By engag­ing with users direct­ly, devel­op­ers can gath­er valu­able insights into their pref­er­ences, behav­iors, and chal­lenges, which in turn informs the design deci­sions. 

Design­ing with the user at the core is more than just a phrase; it is a phi­los­o­phy that dri­ves inno­va­tion and enhances the over­all user expe­ri­ence. By involv­ing users in the design process, we can gain valu­able insights into their char­ac­ter­is­tics, needs, and chal­lenges. We empow­er users and devel­op dig­i­tal tools that tru­ly address their unique con­text, cul­ture, behav­iors, and expec­ta­tions.

Achiev­ing User-Cen­tered Design: A Case Study:

One notable project demon­strat­ing our com­mit­ment to user-cen­tered design is FIND Antimi­cro­bial Stew­ard­ship (AMS) & Hos­pi­tal Acquired Infec­tion (HAI) Sur­veil­lance Sys­tems. Intel­liSOFT is work­ing with FIND to devel­op dig­i­tal tools for Antimi­cro­bial Resis­tance (AMR) and Hos­pi­tal Acquired Infec­tions (HAI) sur­veil­lance, expect­ed to improve the col­lec­tion, avail­abil­i­ty and shar­ing of qual­i­ty AMR and HAI data to improve pub­lic health response and inform nation­al efforts in address­ing AMR and HAI. 

In order to ensure we devel­op a sys­tem that address­es the end users’ pain points, we adopt­ed the Dig­i­tal Adap­ta­tion Kit (DAK) devel­oped by the World Health Orga­ni­za­tion WHO, and assim­i­lat­ed it into our process­es. The DAK allows the team to focus on the users of the sys­tem and their inter­ac­tions with the sys­tem and each oth­er. Fur­ther­more, it helps break­down every seg­ment of the sys­tem con­tex­tu­al­iza­tion that pours into the sys­tem design and tech­ni­cal approach, with its main tar­get being assim­i­lat­ing the dig­i­tal tool into the dai­ly busi­ness process­es of the facil­i­ties. This has allowed us to view the sys­tem func­tions and oper­a­tions from the end user lens­es, hence avoid­ing sce­nar­ios where the sys­tem func­tion­al­i­ty does not accom­mo­date the facilities/user work­flow. We have wit­nessed great suc­cess as we focus more on the user process­es rather than being quick to deliv­er the solu­tion with min­i­mal under­stand­ing of the prob­lem.