Information architecture empowering carers for better care outcomes
A few years ago whilst working at CarePlanner, the Product team and I became aware of a recurring customer challenge; many Care Managers were frustrated with Carers not always completing the tasks accurately on care appointments.
“Sometimes when I call to enquire why the carer hasn’t given Mr X their personal care … .and they say ‘Oh I did!…did I not put that in the app?’…and then I have to go in and update the appointment notes manually because they have done it.”
“Having accurate records of care is essential, if we are audited we need to prove that we are providing the care we say we are“
To further understand the context of this problem, I dug deeper into the carer’s experience. Speaking to carers, I discovered some common pain points when using the mobile application to record appointment information;❌ Low engagement with the ‘end appointment’ feature, because it was ‘easy to forget’.❌ Users reported that the app screen was ‘cluttered’ and ‘confusing’.❌ Small text and ‘hard to read’
❌ Content was often hidden behind sticky buttons.
It became clear that the mobile app was compromising the carer’s ability to interpret and record care provided, rather than facilitating it.
The product team and I got to work on making the screen more accessible;
Information grouping;• I conducted card sorting research to understand how carers processed and used the appointment content.
• Identified 3 groups of similar information, including logistical details, appointment notes, and tasks to complete, and used these to guide content grouping on the UI (user interface) aligning with users’ mental models.
Revamped Information Architecture;• I streamlined the UI by removing non-essential content and containing information that might need to be referred back to in collapsable cards.• Introduced simplified task recording for Carers to record completion during appointments.• Visually highlighted time-sensitive activities, like medication administration.Improved readability;• Increased text contrast, increased the default text size, and placed content headers above rather than left of content for easy scanning.
• Implemented visual cues to help users quickly distinguish content states i.e. completed tasks from incomplete tasks and read notes from unread notes.
Enhanced appointment closing;• Implemented on-screen reminders to nudge users if an appointment had not been ended within an expected timeframe.• Prompted users to confirm task completion when ‘ending the appointment’.
Whilst unfortunately, I left CarePlanner before these designs were implemented, Carer’s feedback on the prototyped designs was enthusiastic.
✅“This is much better, I can see what I’m doing now”✅“This is much nicer to read, it doesn’t feel as cluttered and stressful”✅Care Managers were also hopeful; ‘This feels like my carers can be a bit more proactive in how they record what they do on an appointment now, hopefully, the reminders mean I will have to do less chasing.’The project was a clear example of how technology can have a negative impact when it becomes too complex, distracting, or fails to realise the user’s primary goal. In this case, the goal was to provide care, but a cluttered UI made this harder than it needed to be, and this not only affected the direct user of the application but also the wider business and ultimately the individual receiving care.
I have always resonated with the phrase ‘Design as if the end goal is for people to forget software is involved,’ and this project exemplifies the importance of simplicity as a guiding principle for usability.