Streamlining Pet Health Record Managemen

Streamlining Pet Health Record Management - Paw Pals

This UX case study examines a feature design for Paw Pals, aimed at simplifying pet health record management through seamless document organization, sharing, and improved communication between pet owners and veterinarians.

ROLE

UI/UX Designer

TEAM

Tianhong Qiu

Laura Huerta

Laura Manzanarez

Wei-Ko Li

Amanda Guerrero

DURATION

AUG 2022 - DEC 2022

The Challenge

A Pet Owner’s Struggle

John’s elderly dog, Max, suffers from arthritis and heart issues, requiring visits to multiple clinics. Each clinic uses different record systems, leaving John juggling paperwork and medical details. During an emergency, he couldn’t remember Max’s medication dosage, leading to complications. John realized there had to be a better way to manage Max’s health.

Here are common ways John can consider to manage the health records for Max:

John could use physical documents to track Max’s vaccinations, meds, and appointments, but this requires extensive manual organization.

None of these methods meet John’s expectations—he needs a flexible, centralized, easy-to-use, and universally accepted solution to track vaccinations, medical history, and appointments all in one place. Therefore, John started the search in pet health management apps.

Unlocking Opportunities

A Deep Dive into the Pet Health Management Market

To determine if current solutions could meet John’s needs, we conducted a detailed analysis of existing pet care platforms. We evaluated key competitors' functionalities, identifying common features and highlighting gaps in their offerings that failed to provide a complete solution for pet health management.

Most apps offered basic functionalities like vaccination tracking, appointment scheduling, and reminders, but they lacked integration across multiple clinics and complete medical record management.

Moreover, these apps allow easier sharing of records but still may not be universally accepted or integrated with new veterinary providers when pet owners move.

Streamlining Pet Care

Empowering Owners with Effortless Health Management for Their Furry Companions

Our goal is to streamline pet health management, enabling pet owners to easily track and care for their furry companions. We aim to offer a comprehensive view of each pet's health and well-being, empowering owners with the information and tools needed for proactive care -- so that John can keep Max healthy effortlessly

Understanding Pet Owners' Challenges

Listening to Users

To better understand the challenges pet owners face, we conducted 15-minute interviews with 9 pet owners. Each interview included 10+ questions aimed at uncovering how they manage their pets’ health. Key questions included:

How do you find your vets? Do you use any apps or websites?
How do you keep up with your pets' medical records?
How do you keep up with routine medications (heartworm medications/flea/vitamins/vaccinations/etc.)?
And More...

The insights gathered were eye-opening:

88% of the pet owners

Do not keep up with their pet's medical records on their own

78% of the pet owners

want a better way to keep track of their pets' medical history

56% of the pet owners

Visit a veterinary clinic more than 4 times a year

44% of the pet owners

Rely on self-reminders for annual vet check-ups

These findings underscored a critical gap in existing pet health management tools and highlighted the acute need for a centralized, intuitive platform that could seamlessly integrate medical records, appointment scheduling, and medication tracking. This reinforced our commitment to designing an app that not only fills these gaps but also enhances the overall management of pet health care.

Crafting User Personas

Uncovering Interview Insights

We created user personas representing different types of users who might engage with our application. This helped us better understand their needs, experiences, behaviors, and goals.

Our Solution

Introducing Paw Pals Health Record Management Feature

Paw Pals simplifies pet health management by offering a seamless, all-in-one health record system that gives pet owners an organized, comprehensive view of their pets' well-being. From vaccinations to medical records, it puts everything in one place, making it easier than ever to track and manage essential health information.

Effortless Document Sharing

The document-sharing feature allows pet owners to easily manage and share their pet's health records. Whether it's vet reports, vaccination records, or medication lists, vital documents can be quickly shared with caregivers, veterinarians, or pet sitters, ensuring pets receive the best care without the hassle of paperwork.

Hassle-Free Document Requests

When pet owners need health records from a vet or hospital, Paw Pals simplifies the process. By answering a few quick questions—such as which hospital and the reason for the request—Paw Pals securely handles the rest, requesting and retrieving documents to save time and reduce stress.

Snap, Upload, Done

Paw Pals makes handling paper forms easy. Pet owners can simply take a picture of any document and upload it directly to the system. This feature allows all health records to be stored digitally in one secure location, easily accessible whenever needed, reducing the burden of managing paper documents.

Full Control at Your Fingertips

Paw Pals offers pet owners comprehensive control over their pet's health documents. With features like filtering, sorting, and searching, finding the right information is seamless. The system also tracks updates from the same medical source, preventing duplicate files and keeping records organized and clutter-free.

How We Got There

Simplifying Pet Health Record Management

The complexity of managing pet health records stems from the absence of a unified system across different vets and clinics. Ideally, we need a standardized system that both vets and pet owners use, integrating all practices under one seamless platform. With this long-term vision in mind, our initial steps are:

Supporting Paper Documents
Paw Pals bridges the gap between paper and digital records. Pet owners no longer need to manually input health records. By leveraging OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology, Paw Pals can easily recognize and digitize paper forms, organizing them for easy access and easy sharing.
Simplifying Record Requests and Sharing
Paw Pals supports common file-sharing protocols used by pet health providers, but streamlines the process for users. Pet owners can request or share health records with just a few taps, making document transfer effortless and user-friendly.

Concept Sketches

For the concept sketches, we brainstormed ideas based on user needs and quickly visualized core features through rough sketches. We explored various layout options and user flows, focusing on simplicity and key interactions, using these sketches to align the team on the design direction.

Lo-Fi Prototypes

In this phase, we turned the doodles into greyscale low-fidality prototypes, removed all the unnecessary visual burdens to solely focused on the illustration of the information architectures and user flows for prioritized features. This is also the phase where most of the user testing and design iteration happened.

User Testing & Recruiting

We conducted 15 remotely unmoderated usability test sessions using UserTesting and Figma prototypes to gather valuable insights on usability, user interactions, and overall experience. Ten of these sessions occurred during the low-fidelity prototyping phase, while the remaining five took place during the high-fidelity phase. This approach helped us identify key pain points, potential confusion, and areas for improvement early on. The feedback from these tests was essential for making informed decisions and ensuring our design aligned with user expectations and needs throughout the process.

Recruiting

Screened for 15 participants with at least one pet
Utilized UserTesting platform to generate a diverse group of individuals that varied in age, technical experience, and gender

Testing Structure

Unmoderated testing sessions
Complete 4 tasks that focus on the functionality of the app
Post-test questions after each task

Usability Testing

We used the Likert scale to capture metrics after each task, asking questions like, "How easy or difficult was this task for you?" This allowed us to quantify user feedback and assess the overall usability and satisfaction with the design at each stage.

The result was promising:

Out of 15 participants, no one rated the tasks as very difficult.
60% of the participants rated the medical record task as easy

Lessons Learned

Throughout the project, I gained several key insights that contributed to the overall success of the design process:

Feature Alignment in the Discovery Phase
Aligning on a comprehensive list of key features during the project's discovery phase proved essential for the subsequent design stages. This proactive approach ensured that all stakeholders were on the same page, reducing revisions and enabling a more focused design process.
Value of Early and Frequent User Testing
By conducting user testing early and often, I was able to collect meaningful feedback that allowed for continuous iteration and improvement. This helped the design evolve in response to real user needs, making the final product more user-friendly and effective.
Information Architecture as a Foundation
Establishing the information architecture early in the project laid the groundwork for a smoother design process. A well-structured architecture guided the flow of the app, ensuring intuitive navigation and an overall improved user experience.

Future Work

Looking ahead, there are several opportunities to expand and enhance the project:

Broadening the Target Audience
Expanding the app to cater to a wider variety of pets and their specific needs can attract a broader user base, making the app more inclusive and versatile.
Synchronized Document Systems
In our design, we envisioned creating a network called "Pet-Connect" to enable seamless information transfer when a pet owner switches veterinarians. Our goal is to explore a synchronized document system that keeps pet owners and veterinarians on the same page, improving communication and simplifying the management of health records. This streamlined approach not only enhances the pet care experience but also significantly boosts efficiency, making transitions between vets effortless.
New Features for Enhanced Functionality
Adding new features such as a live chat option with veterinarians and educational resources for first-time pet owners would further enhance the app's utility, making it a go-to resource for comprehensive pet care.