This is the fifth of a series of articles related to health-tech and how important it is. This was made with a partnership with Minerva we worked on the “Buenos Aires Civic Challenge” to answer the question: How important is a good UX to improve healthcare services in developing countries? The deliverables were several articles tackling different topics. Here is the fifth one of them.

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Healthcare is one of the industries that has historically witnessed an influx of unsightly and outdated apps. In the healthcare industry, the importance of good UX design is usually underestimated, especially when it comes to budget allocation. Other functions in companies are given priorities for the investment. Truth be told, UX design can make or break your app, influence your customer base, affect your sales, and give you a massive advantage if done correctly.  

Healthcare in Argentina is undergoing a significant transformation from analog to digital. Some enterprises like Swiss Medical have been making important changes in their digital products. Therefore, it is critical to join the trend of digitalizing your healthcare organization or risk being left behind by competitors. Especially in the COVID-19 era, having a good UX design app is a must because the world’s behavior is shifting progressively to online services, and you don’t want your business to be left behind, right ? 

Moreover, a good UX app represents significant importance for the healthcare industry, more than others, because bad designs can have severe consequences on users’ health, bearing in mind that the app users can be composed of patients struggling with conditions like color blindness and hearing impairment.   

Below, we discuss a simple, intuitive guide to upgrade your healthcare app UX design to help put your company on the map.

1. Clean User Interface

A clean UI has an uncluttered and structured layout (aka a limited number of elements on each page) to avoid customer confusion, provide a seamless user experience, and make it easy for users to access data and use the app features. A clean UI is particularly imperative for healthcare apps because it should consider patients' frustrations who might be dealing with other health issues. 

1. You should consider using calming colors that coherently work together rather than the overused blue colors 
2. The font size should be suitable for users from different age groups so that the content is easily readable. 

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Good example: Healthily

It has a clean UI with a different color palette contrary to the overused blue color in anything related to healthcare 

2. Accessibility

Accessibility means having a user interface that is understandable, perceivable, and suitable for people with different abilities. Accessibility might be a preferred option for other apps, but for healthcare apps, it is a must-have because you are dealing with patients who might have a wide range of disabilities (e.g., visual and hearing impairment).

In Argentina, 1 in 10 People Live with a Disability, so incorporating accessibility features in your app makes it more inclusive and useful for everyone. 

1. The user interface should include easily-recognizable cues and icons accompanying texts 
2. Utilize the contrast between colors and fonts to improve readability

3. Minimalism

A minimalistic design presents to users necessary information and features only to avoid information overload the patients already deal with in their daily activities.

1. Limit the information presented to users and the
2. Utilize autocomplete to make it quicker and easier for users to fill in information 
3. Limit features/options presented to users on the home screen
   
   
   
   

4. Adaptation to Covid times

UX design is deemed more significant during the Covid era because digitalized healthcare can reduce the risk of getting exposed to Covid. For instance, it’s becoming easier to make appointments online with a seamless UI which, compared to the analog way of getting a walk-in appointment. This can limit the number of patients coming simultaneously, thus reducing the risk of COVID transition. It also saves patients time and reduces their frustration of waiting in long lines.

To know more about the importance of Telemedicine in these covid times, you can read the other articles we did on the partnership with Minerva University:

• The Design of Vaccine Scheduling Systems by Anosha Rahim
• The Rise of Telemedicine in Argentina by Julia Ip
• How does Telemedicine reduce the costs of medical services? by Nutsa Metreveli
• Why should we encourage the use of Telemedicine in chronic disease care? by Nutsa Metreveli

Conclusion

Healthcare in Argentina is witnessing a major transformation from analog to digital. Now is the right time to join the trend because it won’t only help you become cost-effective and increase your customer base, but you will fall behind if you don’t join the e-health trend. So what are you waiting for?

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At Aerolab, we’re already working with several companies in the healthcare industry to improve their digital practices. Want to learn more? Let’s talk!