Page 72 - Health Literacy, eHealth, and Communication: Putting the Consumer First: Workshop Summary

Health Literacy, eHealth, and Communication: Putting the Consumer First: Workshop Summary

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in hand, decisions are made by referencing user data rather than relying
on opinions and assumptions. This is very important, especially if one
is working with health care professionals. Such professionals frequently
believe that they know what is best for patients and that, if patients would
just do things the way the professionals say, everything will work out fine.
So user research is a way to keep the focus on the patients. When this was
done, it was found that patients’ tools are very different from the tools one
might build for clinicians and health care professionals.
Finally, the design work focused on how to support the tasks that
were identified, rather than making up the tasks that one thinks patients
should be doing.
The project also had a Patient Action and Advisory Committee.
Gauthier strongly recommended that anyone designing technology for
patients convene such a group. It makes it easier to find patients to work
with, and the committee members invigorate staff, keeping them focused
on the reasons the product is being developed.
Much of the design work and problem solving for the system was
tested with patients using a wireframe before a single line of code was
6
written. Patients were given a graphic representation of a Web page and
told they could use their finger as a mouse to click on the various options.
They were then asked questions such as, “What would you click on to add
a new medication?” Using a wireframe with patients allows the designer
to determine where changes should be made. It also allows for rapid itera-
tions that bring one closer and closer to a really great design that most
patients will be able to pick up and use quite easily.
The following examples illustrate how a task was designed in the
user interface. The first task was for a patient to be able to find the generic
name of a medication. There is a great deal of confusion among patients
over the myriad names for a single drug. The design decision was made to
always pair the brand name with the generic name so that patients always
see the two together (see Figure 4-2). When patients add medications to
their lists, the lists will always show both the brands and, when available,
the generic pairing. The page also shows the patient which strengths of
the medication are available, a piece of information that patients were
very interested in knowing.

6 A wireframe “is a visualization tool for presenting proposed functions, structure and
content of a Web page or Web site. A wireframe separates the graphic elements of a Web
site from the functional elements in such a way that Web teams can easily explain how us-
ers will interact with the Web site. A typical wireframe includes (1) key page elements and
their location, such as header, footer, navigation, content objects, branding elements, (2)
grouping of elements, such as side bars, navigation bars, content areas, (3) labeling, page
title, navigation links, headings to content objects, and (4) place holders, content text and
images” (Jupitermedia Corporation, 2008).

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