This is what you need to know to make your medtech business work [+UX examples]

Medicine stands for the processing of large amounts of data. It is certainly the first industry in which data driven projects have introduced such significant changes from the point of view of all system users: patient, doctor, medical institution and researchers.

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At the same time, this market is extremely saturated with technology, which, in addition to saving lives, is increasingly transferring patient experience, The patient's experience in the digital world.

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Also during the Covid pandemic, we had the opportunity to take advantage of the benefits of contactless temperature measurement, with an additional illuminated interface. These are small details that, for example, in the case of saving lives, help to save valuable time.

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Two directions of technology development in medicine

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A watch that monitors your pulse, steps, calorie consumption, or body temperature, or even sleep rhythm? This is already the standard. Technology in medicine is increasingly turning towards tights that control recovery after vein surgery or an inhaler that transmits an alert to the phone that we have forgotten to take a dose of medicine. Electronics in the medical industry has come out of the medical facility and follows us every step of the way.

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But the power of digital medicine is not only in medical gadgets

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An important element is digital access to patient data and — on the other hand — digital access of the patient to the specialist, the digital treatment process. Medical devices are mixing with the Internet of Things (IoT), digital interfaces and web platforms.

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So before we enter the medtech market, it is worth figuring out which categories our idea falls into. And above all: is it subject to legal regulations (at 99% yes) that you have to take into account.

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A medical device? And what is it?

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European law defines a medical device in a simple way: It is any device, hardware, material, applications and software used to:

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Diagnosing,
prevention,
monitoring,
treatment,
alleviation of the disease.
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The thermometer fulfills two of these five assumptions — just like an ultrasound or a glucometer. Insulin pump — four, etc. The same system for transmitting data to the doctor is used for diagnosis, including in clinical trials, treatment planning, or admission to a medical facility.
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Do you have an innovative idea in your hand and are wondering if it is already a medical device?

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If it fulfills at least one of these functions, the answer is yes. Now it's time to read the rules.

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Medtech is regulated by law

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Legal regulations for medicines and medical equipment, until recently, did not effectively cover medical accreditation, electronics and software. With the entry into force in 2020 of the new European Regulation on Medical Devices, innovators in the field of digital health have been subjected to stricter regulations.

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Thus, the medical industry faced a new business risk. Using an example: The production of a car driving simulator in a computer game poses different challenges than designing a real car.

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Building the UX of the medical industry — golden rules

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For UX designers, the approach to the user in the medical industry is no different in underlying assumptions from the approach to any other user experience.

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We look at each product from the perspective of three important values.

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The product must be:

Desirable,
workable,
profitable.

But additionally in the medical industry, we add a fourth paradigm, specific to health care efficiency.

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In short, no one in the healthcare sector will pay for a solution that cannot provide repeated evidence of its effectiveness.

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Specific challenges

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Planning is an important part of the UX design process. And in particular, planning the necessary functionalities, protections and processes if we want to optimize the patient experience.

Here we will highlight important aspects of digital products for healthcare, medical personnel or patients themselves, which we take into account when designing solutions:

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1. Privacy

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It is worth starting with this, because this is an area in which medicine is subject to very strict regulation. Medical data is considered sensitive and its management requires compliance with a number of legal regulations.

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In UX design:

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Products that operate medical data should take care of system security, proper management of data display and the ability to access, edit and, crucially, delete sensitive data by the user.

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The first lies mainly in the hands of developers, but... not quite. A properly designed user interface allows you to display and hide data, depending on the reader's permissions. It is important to have clear communication, where, how and to what extent we collect and share data.

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This not only provides legal security, but calms the user's concerns. After all, it's about his health!

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2. Accessibility (so called inclusiveness, WCAG rules, etc.)

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We often need treatment data in very unusual situations. The same principle applies as with any application: the easier the user can use the product, the greater the chance that they will return to it if necessary.

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Optimizing the patient experience is not only related to the design of the device, but also to its operation, screen resolution, its backlight, readability, reactions at the points of contact, etc.

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There is no one-size-fits-all user experience map template. However, a well-designed service, application or website should take into account the widest possible range of needs of future patients.

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In UX design:

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User experience design and graphic design are two separate topics!

The first tells us how to design product paths with good use experience. And the second — what the product should look like in order to be legible and convey information legible to the patient or doctor.

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Connected together, they adhere to a few general principles, called heuristics. In a nutshell: the user experience ensures that the interface is displayed well on every device, in all circumstances and for each recipient.

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In the case of the medical industry, this is of great importance! Many chronically ill people may have problems with vision, movement, information processing or, as they have indicated UX research on design for people with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, the usefulness of simple elements.

Empathy and deep knowledge About the needs of the user should accompany the work on the project at every step.

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3. Safety

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As in the example with the car, in digital medical products/platforms, user safety goes beyond simple data security and is an essential element of the entire product.

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Poorly selected dose of the drug, incorrect diagnosis based on the data of another patient, a bad reading, or an unheard alarm.

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Users must have complete trust in our product. These risks must be foreseen by the manufacturer in advance and largely addressed in the visual design when designing the interaction.

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In user experience design, we tell our customers: research, test, improve.

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It's the only solution in digital product design that delivers a positive experience. For medtech products, we write this motto in capital letters.

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We must not allow user experience errors in a medical product [here link to the second article], the consequences can be too serious.

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So what path do we propose?

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1. Deep preliminary reaserch (in the relevant industry and related industries) plus legal analysis for the idea. The knowledge gained in this way constitutes, among others, the basis for the selection of functions or technologies in the product/service.
2. Involvement of the target user and specialists in the field, already at the MVP stage. There is no substitute for empathy. Before making important decisions, it is also worth taking care to know the real expectations of the recipients.
3. Mapping all possible customer paths. Indicate the locations of unusual situations of use, so-called edge cases.
In this way, we try to predict how, as a result of the interaction, the user can use the product in an inappropriate way and protect it from such action.
4. Testing with users at an early stage. With an emphasis on testing individual functionalities, which we confront users on an ongoing basis.
5. Consistent and refined design system of visual elements interface and tests of this system on the target device (s). A well-designed website or application is an important point of contact with the product.

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But I just want to design a website...

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We have in our portfolio such an interesting case of how to optimize the patient experience with filling out forms. It opened our eyes to how difficult this part of the project can be in the medical industry.

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Why?

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Looking at the above principles (privacy, accessibility and security), we had to think about how to assure our client that his patients fill out the form according to real knowledge and understanding what data is required of them and why.

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Also, the length of the form itself (many detailed questions about the state of health) posed a challenge for users. Let's be honest: we hate filling out long forms online.

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In addition, we looked at our client — a private clinic — as a service provider. These services had to be clearly communicated and designed, including a clear sales process. As a result, “simple website” has become one of the most interesting UX projects in our portfolio.

Fueled by additional knowledge from user research, we were able to get the right perspective and understand what paths and why our user is following.

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Trust is the foundation of medicine

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Salespeople still say about the customer that “if he wants, he will buy it.” Not in the digital world!

If the user enters the virtual store and cannot find the goods, and the cart button does not work, or it is impossible to make a payment... he will simply move to another portal.

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And in the medical industry?

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In the medical industry, there is more at stake than our money, which is why we read information even more carefully and make decisions much more carefully.

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UX design does not guarantee 100% success, but represents a solid 80% of it, which consists of: