A new dashboard that enables remote support for clinicians
Timeline
Jan 2024 - Jun 2024
Role
UX/UI Designer
Team
Myself
1 Product Manager
1 Head of Sales
2 Support
3+ Back End
Project context
The existing device update process is burdensome for both the business and the clinic side. I designed a centralized platform for our back-end team to organize updates, and a series of in-app prompts that significantly reduced disruptions for clinics during their daily patient consultation.
Impact
Reduced operational downtime from 5-7 days to 15 minutes
Enabled a scalable remote support process
Improved security of data transfer
PROBLEM AREA
The manual update process is causing friction
The existing process lacked remote support capabilities, which requires clinicians to manually ship the device back for minor updates. To avoid the burden, users often delayed updates, resulting in significant business risk and a growing backlog of technical support:
01
Device Error
The clinician can’t operate an outdated device.
02
Contact and Ship
The clinician ships the device back to the support team and stops all tests during the downtime.
03
Manual support
The engineer manually updates the device firmware, disrupting their current tasks.
04
Repeated pain point
Each time it takes 5-7 days to ship it back to the clinician.
Recognizing that this tech debt was affecting our staff and the customers, I took the initiative to lead a research activity to improve the process.
How might we simplify the update process to support our clinical customers?
DESIGN DECISION
Eliminating manual burden through remote support
I conducted a gap analysis with our engineers and discovered that updates are managed through multiple platforms and replicated from scratch for every release.
This is an opportunity for a new dashboard that allows engineers to remotely push the updates, while clinicians receive guided in-app prompts to be completed with minimal disruption.
The goal is to create a scalable system for all future device updates:
Updates configured in
multiple platforms
Notify customers
System checks the
device version
Start update
For back-end
For clinics
My approach for the clinics: Simple pop-up steps
Curated UX copy to provide constant reassurance by managing expectations for what happens next.
Visualized time estimates to reduce anxiety during the downtime.
Managed edge cases through communicating failure modes and providing an option to skip.
Starting Prompt
Updating receiver firmware
This may take a few minutes.
DO NOT disconnect the receiver.
Downloading firmware...
Connect receiver to begin
Use USB-C cable to connect
Device update available
A device update is available.
The update will be downloaded and installed now. The update process will take a few minutes. Any ongoing studies will not be affected.
Press “Install now” to continue.
DO NOT disconnect the device until the update is completed.
Skip
Install now
*Clinical environments are high pressure.
Option to Skip allows clinicians to postpone an update during a live patient consultation.
Warning highlighted
Option to Skip*
Pop-up when
device detected
Reassurance that
the disruption is minimal
Progress Screen
Updating the device
This may take a few minutes.
DO NOT disconnect the device.
Downloading firmware...
Dynamic progress bar for reassurance
Details redacted due to NDA.
Happy Case: Update Complete
CTA to confirm
task completed
A prominent success screen that prompts clinicians to start their next consultation.
Edge Case: Update Failed
Connect receiver to begin
Use USB-C cable to connect
Update failed
Network Error - 000
The update will restart the next time
you connect the device.
Press “OK” to continue with the study,
or disconnect the device.
If error persists, contact support.
OK
A warning pop-up that communicates the failure cause and next steps.
CTA to ensure warning communicated
Details redacted due to NDA.
My approach for the back end: Centralized dashboard
Created scalable template that can be replicated for other utilities.
Merged mechanisms into 1 so configuration and deployment can happen in one place.
Automated notification through email templates that are triggered by update deployment.
A searchable table that lists each status
Scheduling function
Status tracking
One click to push updates
Secure storage of update files
Scheduling template
CTA
Email template for customized message.
Sent out to clinicians before the update starts
Details redacted due to NDA.
Design Change
Leveraging Existing Frameworks to Deliver a Faster, More Effective MVP
V1 Draft - Long scrolling form
My first draft is a long-scrolling form that includes every feature discussed. However, to ship the MVP fast, we pivoted to existing frameworks.
Deployment Settings
1. Deployment Information
Please specify the environment, start date and end date of this deployment.
2. Select Target Users for Notification
Draft and Schedule the Notification
4. Additional Notes for System Users
Environment
*error or other info
Start time
08/05/2024 00:00
*error or other info
End Date
08/06/2024 00:00
*error or other info
Date when the deployment becomes valid
Please select the user groups to notify of this update.
Email List
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8 May 2024
V1.2 Update
USA
USA
USA
13 May 2024
V1.2 Update
Edit
20 May 2024
V1.2 Update
Send date
Subject
Region
Edit
Edit
Edit
System User
Practice Manager
Doctor
Maximum of 500 character limit.
500/500
Cancel
Submit
Familiar survey format reduces
context-switching
New framework increases development effort
Too many design elements
Final - Adapted existing modal
I customized the existing modal and dropped anything that’s out-of-scope, significantly reducing development time.
The modal takes one more click to reveal
Modal is an existing framework
Core features from design system
New element
introduced to
design system
New modal variant
customizable for
future releases
Impact
The new support feature unlocked a scalable framework
Reduced Operational Downtime from 5-7 days (shipping + manual update + return) to 15 minutes (in-app update)
Created reusable template and design system for future projects
Centralized dashboard increased efficiency for the digital team
Learnings
To bridge the gap between the business and the customer, I learned to translate backend engineering logic into clinician’s language. My biggest takeaway was that “complex but familiar” can outperform “simple but new,” as leveraging existing mental models reduces the learning curve and allows critical improvements to ship faster.