The motivation to design mobile application systems is one of our personal experiences as an international student seeking medical treatment in the U.S. The related experience has highlighted the need to address issues related to self-diagnosis and self-medication practices in Changes in International Students' Health Care And Management[1]. The goal is to streamline and simplify the process of obtaining medical treatment for college students, particularly international students who face adaptation challenges in the U.S. healthcare environment.
Through this exploration, it became apparent that the existing healthcare appointment system of Rochester Institute of Technology contains issues related to information hierarchy and overall confusion[2]. Recognizing these challenges and in order to enhance college students' overall experience of accessing healthcare services, our design motivation evolves to provide a comprehensive solution for students seeking medical assistance, specifically addressing and redesigning the appointment interface for improved usability and clarity.
In addition to that, since not every user has the same attributes, skills, and needs in finding health information, those should be clear and appealing[3]. Understanding those requirements contributes to improving their experience in several ways. Firstly and more importantly, ensuring that health information is effectively conveyed and comprehended is crucial for the users as it falls under their personal health. It also allows for designing and creating health information platforms that attract a wide range of user preferences, making the information more appealing to a broader audience.
Additionally, tailored tools and features can be integrated into these platforms to facilitate information exploration, leading to a more intuitive and efficient search process. This understanding also enables the identification of gaps in existing health information retrieval systems, allowing for the development of solutions that address these deficiencies, ultimately enhancing the overall user experience
User research is crucial to designing a student-centric health portal, including observing the behavior of university students(users) on campus across the U.S.–excluding those requiring special assistance within the portal and during medical procedures with the Student Health Center (SHC). The significance of user research has been emphasized in a Management Information System (MIS) redesign for a museum setting [4].
Collaboration across stakeholders is essential to obtain favorable outcomes. Stakeholder analysis helps identify and involve key stakeholders in the health portal development discussed by Schmeer in Stakeholder Analysis Guideline[6]. When we look at RIT, direct Internal action[5] from the Student Health Center and Wellness Portal owner is essential to analyze common patterns in student actions on the current portal and during SHC procedures. Also, external action[4] from a health insurance agency and a local hospital is crucial to align the system with specific health coverage requirements and facilitate smooth transitions for students between the campus health center and the hospital.
As discussed, we will focus on improving the campus healthcare portal system. Since the dynamic demographics of the U.S. college campuses, we must offer multiple interfaces that are multilingual and efficient. The system must offer high accuracy of medical treatment options, and this supports the treatment beyond the campus facilities. Overall consistency is something we are looking for, and one design would improve the entire medical treatment process on campus.
[1] Tang, Charlotte, et al. “Changes in international students’ Health Care and Management.” Proceedings of the 11th EAI International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare, 23 May 2017, https://doi.org/10.1145/3154862.3154898.
[2] Hongxiang Hu, Ping Yu, and Jun Yan. 2010. Design an automatic appointment system to improve patient access to primary health care. In Proceedings of the Fourth Australasian Workshop on Health Informatics and Knowledge Management - Volume 108 (HIKM '10). Australian Computer Society, Inc., AUS, 17–22.
[3] Pang, Patrick Cheong-Iao, et al. “Better Health Information Exploration.” Proceedings of the Asia Pacific HCI and UX Design Symposium, 7 Dec. 2015, https://doi.org/10.1145/2846439.2846444
[4] Herrmann, Christoph, et al. User-centered System Design. 19 Sept. 2005, https://doi.org/10.1145/1085777.1085853. Accessed 4 Feb. 2024.
[5] Figueiredo, João Paulo, et al. “Patient health portal.” Proceedings of the Workshop on Open Source and Design of Communication, 11 June 2012, https://doi.org/10.1145/2316936.2316944.
[6] Schmeer, K. (1999). Stakeholder analysis guidelines. Policy toolkit for strengthening health sector reform