Vincent Hua, Marketing Manager at TSINFA02.15.22
Doctors and laboratories use medical devices to diagnose patients, administer medication, assist in the daily lives of patients suffering from disabilities, etc. Due to the importance of the devices in the life and well-being of patients, it is important to ensure a good user experience (UX) regarding the designing and development of medical devices. A good user experience will guarantee safety and usability and decrease errors.
UX design is constantly evolving with expanding user needs and the entry of more connected devices and services. It is estimated that the impact of the Internet of Medicine will reach $1 trillion per year. There is a requirement to consistently improve the UX designs of medical devices to suit such evolution. UX can include the device's hardware and embedded software and its applications, features like instructional graphics, information architecture, location-based services, and unified communications, amongst other things.
Better user experience ensures better treatments and patient outcomes. It helps manufacturers, doctors, and laboratories achieve a competitive edge over other players in the market.
This demands manufacturers to make the users of devices the center of their decision-making to provide the user experience that is most expected. Improving the user experience of medical devices has resulted in the devices being more safe, usable, and avoiding errors. This improves the reliability of healthcare workers and patient outcomes.
Haptics
Haptics are on the rise these days. Before administering medication, identification bracelets of patients are scanned to extract their electronic medical records. It helps confirm if the right medication is being administered to the right patient.
Biometric Security
Biometric security is used to give healthcare workers access to high-level drugs. The correct medication and quantity of it can be monitored for security purposes.
Medical Wearables
Medical wearables include smartwatches, smart bracelets, fitness monitoring apps on smartphones, etc. They produce large amounts of data for researchers and other industry experts. These devices connected with self-monitoring mobile applications help users analyze the impact of lifestyle on their health and set goals to work to achieve.
Telehealth
Remote patient monitoring (RPM) technology enables monitoring patients outside conventional clinical settings, increasing access to care and reducing healthcare delivery costs. In RPM, patients gather health data using mobile medical devices and technology and share it with healthcare professionals. This has made consultations with healthcare professionals more sophisticated and hassle-free, especially amidst Covid-19.
Digital Therapeutics
Digital Therapeutics Alliance has come up with DTx to provide medical interventions to patients by using evidence-based and clinically evaluated software to prevent certain diseases and disorders.
Healthcare workers and patients require the device to fulfill its purpose and be easy, practical, and simple to work with. The device should facilitate high functioning with the least complex operations.
2. Appealing Look and Feel
Building a device with a look and feel that is appealing and pleasurable to the users will positively impact UX and increase user retention. Aesthetics such as simple icons, illustrations, graphs, and clean typeface make using devices more engaging and pleasant.
3. Key Functionality
Despite an appealing look and engaging workability, the most important tip is to focus on the core element of the device for which it is to be used. The inclusion of any user interface design should merely complement the key functionality of the device.
4. Customization
Incorporating options to customize the device, such as organizing data-saving favorites, will allow users to access meaningful data. This will increase efficiency in usage and give a positive patient outcome.
5. Auto-saving and Auto-population
Auto-saving is essential to prevent losing data. Availability of data for longer periods will help users track medical conditions and the impact of the treatment. Healthcare workers and patients can benefit from properly maintained records in medical devices to improve patient outcomes.
Vocal biomarkers use a person's voice features to deduct medical signs of illness. Virtual Reality (VR) can be used to help patients relaxedly navigate through anxiety or fear-inducing procedures and to keep their minds off the pain. Augmented Reality (AR) can show additional information about surgical planning, diagnostics, and medication on digital devices.
Chatbots developed with intuitive, relevant, and well-written responses can be used to book appointments, set reminders for medication, and check other medical conditions. The advancement in AI and patient-generated data can be extended to managing chronic illness, diagnosis, and providing more personalized responses.
Digitization of healthcare records will ensure patients receive the medical attention they require with the least waiting periods. User interface and user experience about medical devices are becoming a great hotspot for technological advancement that will make people's lives easier and their health better in years to come.
Vincent Hua is the Marketing Manager at TSINFA. He is passionate about helping people understand high-end and complex manufacturing processes. Besides writing and contributing his insights, Vincent is very keen on technological innovation that helps build highly precise and stable CNC Machinery.
UX design is constantly evolving with expanding user needs and the entry of more connected devices and services. It is estimated that the impact of the Internet of Medicine will reach $1 trillion per year. There is a requirement to consistently improve the UX designs of medical devices to suit such evolution. UX can include the device's hardware and embedded software and its applications, features like instructional graphics, information architecture, location-based services, and unified communications, amongst other things.
Better user experience ensures better treatments and patient outcomes. It helps manufacturers, doctors, and laboratories achieve a competitive edge over other players in the market.
What Are the Challenges Faced by UX Designers in Healthcare?
UX designers face various challenges in their development, optimizing usability, accessibility, and improving the experience. A few such challenges are elaborated here:- Keep users consistently continue using the user interface to identify long-term impacts to improve the UX.
- Since medical data is required by law to be kept private, the progress of recovery or usage outcome can not be directly revealed.
- Differences in language and terminologies used by different doctors can create confusion.
- Creating a navigation system for user retention that will guide users to the next actions.
- Designing the device to match the levels of empathy of doctors or nurses is difficult.
- Achieving business goals, including earning profits, does not always go hand in hand with research and constantly improving UX.
- Primary research includes surveying the patient is extremely difficult, given they would be suffering from illness and might not be able to express relevant data. Geographical boundaries and lack of researchers also increase the difficulty in acquiring sufficient research data.
Why Is Medical Device UX Design Important?
The trends have changed due to users expecting the device to be easy to use straight out of the box. Medical devices are expected to be simple, intuitive, and focused on tasks depending on the context. Appealing looks are another expectation.This demands manufacturers to make the users of devices the center of their decision-making to provide the user experience that is most expected. Improving the user experience of medical devices has resulted in the devices being more safe, usable, and avoiding errors. This improves the reliability of healthcare workers and patient outcomes.
What Are Some Current Trends in Medical UX?
This section explores current and rising trends in medical UX designs.Haptics
Haptics are on the rise these days. Before administering medication, identification bracelets of patients are scanned to extract their electronic medical records. It helps confirm if the right medication is being administered to the right patient.
Biometric Security
Biometric security is used to give healthcare workers access to high-level drugs. The correct medication and quantity of it can be monitored for security purposes.
Medical Wearables
Medical wearables include smartwatches, smart bracelets, fitness monitoring apps on smartphones, etc. They produce large amounts of data for researchers and other industry experts. These devices connected with self-monitoring mobile applications help users analyze the impact of lifestyle on their health and set goals to work to achieve.
Telehealth
Remote patient monitoring (RPM) technology enables monitoring patients outside conventional clinical settings, increasing access to care and reducing healthcare delivery costs. In RPM, patients gather health data using mobile medical devices and technology and share it with healthcare professionals. This has made consultations with healthcare professionals more sophisticated and hassle-free, especially amidst Covid-19.
Digital Therapeutics
Digital Therapeutics Alliance has come up with DTx to provide medical interventions to patients by using evidence-based and clinically evaluated software to prevent certain diseases and disorders.
Tips to Improve Medical Design User Experience
1. SimplicityHealthcare workers and patients require the device to fulfill its purpose and be easy, practical, and simple to work with. The device should facilitate high functioning with the least complex operations.
2. Appealing Look and Feel
Building a device with a look and feel that is appealing and pleasurable to the users will positively impact UX and increase user retention. Aesthetics such as simple icons, illustrations, graphs, and clean typeface make using devices more engaging and pleasant.
3. Key Functionality
Despite an appealing look and engaging workability, the most important tip is to focus on the core element of the device for which it is to be used. The inclusion of any user interface design should merely complement the key functionality of the device.
4. Customization
Incorporating options to customize the device, such as organizing data-saving favorites, will allow users to access meaningful data. This will increase efficiency in usage and give a positive patient outcome.
5. Auto-saving and Auto-population
Auto-saving is essential to prevent losing data. Availability of data for longer periods will help users track medical conditions and the impact of the treatment. Healthcare workers and patients can benefit from properly maintained records in medical devices to improve patient outcomes.
Conclusion
Advancements in machinery used to manufacture medical devices, such as CNC turning, injection molding, fused deposition molding, etc., and technological advancements about UX of devices such as AI, RPM, VR, and AR are fast changing the parameters of the field.Vocal biomarkers use a person's voice features to deduct medical signs of illness. Virtual Reality (VR) can be used to help patients relaxedly navigate through anxiety or fear-inducing procedures and to keep their minds off the pain. Augmented Reality (AR) can show additional information about surgical planning, diagnostics, and medication on digital devices.
Chatbots developed with intuitive, relevant, and well-written responses can be used to book appointments, set reminders for medication, and check other medical conditions. The advancement in AI and patient-generated data can be extended to managing chronic illness, diagnosis, and providing more personalized responses.
Digitization of healthcare records will ensure patients receive the medical attention they require with the least waiting periods. User interface and user experience about medical devices are becoming a great hotspot for technological advancement that will make people's lives easier and their health better in years to come.
Vincent Hua is the Marketing Manager at TSINFA. He is passionate about helping people understand high-end and complex manufacturing processes. Besides writing and contributing his insights, Vincent is very keen on technological innovation that helps build highly precise and stable CNC Machinery.