User Experience for Medical Technology
- Partners: Siemens Healthineers
- Topics: Medical Technology, Hygiene, Security, and Health
- Key Actors: Radiologists, Cardiologists, and Techs
- Outputs: Concept and Product Vision
- Timespan: April 2021 – December 2023
How can collaborative, user-centered research and design strategies improve the effectiveness, safety, and user experience of radiological processes in cardiology and interventional radiology?
Project Goals and Overview
In cardiology and radiology today, complex procedures are used for various diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Here, medical professionals interact with patients. Our goal is to capture the exact details of these processes, the challenges of sensitive issues such as radiation exposure and ensuring sterility, usability problems in existing technology, and nuances of communication between doctor and patient.
Our focus is on comprehensive user research and promoting innovation through collaborative approaches. This way, we can develop strategies that are not only effective but also meet the actual needs of medical staff and patients.
Our Contribution
For the projects, we delve deeply into medical procedures and interactions to fundamentally understand them. A special focus is on interventional radiological procedures in cardiology. Through field observations and in-situ interviews, we gain insights directly from examination rooms and, if possible, simulate these complex setups in the research laboratory.
In our projects, we involve stakeholders, medical professionals, and patients through co-creation workshops, immersive role-playing, and joint synthesis sessions. Together, we explore early-stage concepts, participate in bodystorming sessions, and map complex workflows. Once we have gained insights and designed concepts, we shift our focus to refining and validating these ideas. This process is guided by methods such as walkthroughs, prototyping, and usability testing.
Tangible Results and Future Implications
Our deliverables span from user journeys and in-depth evaluations of pain points and user needs to concept development and UX recommendations. Not only does our work guide the development of clinical hardware and software, but it also supports internal stakeholder business decisions through methods such as as-is workflow analysis.
Furthermore, we craft forward-thinking UX visions. We propose both immediate and extended solutions, projecting developments for up to a decade. The concepts and visions co-created during the projects offer Siemens Healthineers a broad perspective, serving as a foundation for future discussions and strategy development, driving sustainable improvements and innovation in medical processes.
Methods
Context analysis is a method used to understand and evaluate the various external and internal factors that influence a particular situation or decision. It examines social, cultural, economic and technological factors to provide a comprehensive understanding of the surrounding framework in which a product, service or user interface is used. By analysing the context, we can better understand how our design decisions work in the real environment.
An in-depth interview is a qualitative research method in which researcher gains in-depth insights into participant’s individual experiences, opinions and perspectives. In contrast to standardized questions, the focus is on an open exchange which allows to delve deeper into individual needs, emotions and motivations. We use this method to explore unique perspectives that may not be as accessible through other research methods.
A co-creation workshop is a collaborative event where stakeholders, often including both users and designers, come together to jointly generate ideas, solutions, or products. Through interactive sessions and group activities, participants offer their expertise and unique perspectives to create innovative and holistic solutions.
Methods
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Anne Wohlauf (she/her)
anne@kite.designhas been exploring possible futures of human-machine interaction for 15 years.
Based on insights gained through participatory design methods, the interface designer learns more about the scenarios, contexts and needs of the respective user group and develops bold yet feasible solutions in interdisciplinary teams.
Anne co-founded KITE and, as CPO (Chief People Officer), pays attention to the needs and development opportunities of KITEes.