The road to success in health tech: innovation and growth through UX
6 min 
Technology will continue to be an essential element in transforming healthcare and improving patient care into the future. Many systems within this sector face challenges such as outdated user experience (UX). It is vital that technology within healthcare remains up to date to maintain relevance. A significant risk within healthcare is that you become irrelevant as the market evolves and your product becomes outdated. In healthcare, we have long sales cycles, and losing a customer has significant consequences. Moreover, customers are reluctant to change systems because of, for instance, regulatory issues, the cost of change, the need for training and supplier selection. In this article, we explore how innovative approaches can address these issues and how a solid approach to technology, UX and product management is necessary in increasingly complex healthcare fields.
Outdated UX: major impact on healthcare professionals
Users are often faced with outdated user experience (UX), which particularly impacts professionals working in healthcare and responsible for streamlining healthcare processes. An optimal UX for these professionals can significantly improve the efficiency of their tasks. The healthcare field is broad, which is why we distinguish three main categories when it comes to technology adoption:
1. Health tech: this broad term covers technology solutions related to care, even if they are only indirectly related to health. For example, scheduling software, such as the one we built for the SDB group, emphasises the crucial role of UX as it promises efficiency and accuracy in scheduling. In this category, high-quality UX is an absolute necessity and must be presented prominently.
2. Medical technology (MedTech): this refers to technology used in everyday healthcare practice, such as in hospitals, GP surgeries and physiotherapy practices. These products often process patient data and health information. In MedTech, avoiding poor UX is crucial, as changing systems is expensive and complicated.
3. Medical devices: These are medical devices that come into direct contact with patients or doctors. Regulations require the UX of these devices to be thoroughly validated, as misunderstandings or errors can have serious consequences (e.g. permanent injury or even death). In this category, UX design is very important, and its effectiveness must be validated and documented to meet strict regulatory and risk management standards.
Impact on patients and caregivers
Impact on patients and caregivers is crucial in healthcare UX challenges. In the healthcare sector, security is paramount and UX issues should focus on this essential aspect. It is vital to ensure that healthcare providers can easily and securely access relevant data, without fear of errors that may occur due to a poor user experience (for example, when the most important part of a diagnosis just falls off the phone screen). Risk management is an important element of healthcare and this also applies to digital platforms.
It is necessary to test extensively, develop strategies to minimise risk, implement and validate whether these strategies are actually effective. This includes not only information security, but also detecting and fixing bugs, preventing user errors and optimising the UX to ensure overall security and efficiency. A poor UX can lead to unintended consequences such as customer turnover and inefficiency, which can significantly affect patient care and the day-to-day operations of healthcare providers.
Through risk sessions (such as Failure Mode Effect Analysis, FMEA), we at GlobalOrange offer insight into the specific risks that may affect your product in the broadest sense and identify which ones are already covered by our standard approach. The reports from these risk sessions can also serve as input for your NEN/ISO audit. Our standard approach already covers 60% of the necessary technical management measures (controls) for NEN compliance.
Want to know more about covering risks? Schedule a (call) appointment here.
“We use proven frameworks that are ‘secure by default’,” he says. “When you start with these, you can confidently say that you have made a solid start in terms of security.”
UX optimisation: strategies and technologies
Within healthcare, it is crucial to address UX challenges with a focus on saving time. Healthcare providers often face a high workload and a multitude of tasks that require diligent attention. To increase their efficiency and free up valuable time for direct patient care, strategies and technologies can be applied to improve the user experience.
This includes implementing intuitive interfaces that streamline access to critical information, reducing repetitive actions with automation, and providing personalised workflows tailored to the specific needs of healthcare professionals. With our approach and solutions, we not only help companies improve UX. It will also free up more valuable time for healthcare professionals and reduce errors, ultimately benefiting patient care.
Take a look at some of our SaaS-projects:
“Within healthcare, 40 percent of working time is spent on bureaucracy and forms.”
Transforming to UX Excellence in healthcare: our expertise and your success
Good UX in healthcare is crucial for effective patient care. This must be clear, unambiguous and well thought, especially because all aspects in this sector are risk-sensitive. To address these challenges, it is necessary to involve UX experts and validate the processes according to relevant standards.
At GlobalOrange we draw on years of experience. We not only focus on rebuilding old systems, but also strive to immediately convert them into well-functioning digital products with an excellent user experience, which meets modern security standards. In addition, we work according to the partnership model with our customers. We go further than just providing services; we become an extension of your team. Combining our experience, customer domain knowledge and it is essential to make the collaboration successful and thus create a new product culture. Wondering if we can do something for each other? Make a (call) appointment below.
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