STC Product Suite

The Product

Scientific Technologies Corporation (STC) provides a variety of tools for health providers and government agencies to track infection and immunization data across the United States, and a consumer-facing mobile application to give families access to their vaccine records.

The Problem

Many children and adolescents in the United States are only one visit away from having all the recommended immunizations according to the Center for Disease control.

The Goal

Create applications that allow providers and families to easily monitor vaccination status, identify issues, and set up appointments

Project Duration

January 2016 - August 2017

My Role

UX Designer, Product Designer, Visual/UI Designer, Brand Identity Designer

Responsibilities

Conducted competitive analysis to appraise similar products
Gathered insights from providers with interviews
Diagrammed initial concepts
Created low-fidelity Balsamiq wireframes
Designed high-fidelity mockups and final deliverables
Presented fully functional InVision prototypes
Documented extensive design specifications for developer hand-off

UX Research

Interviews

STC had several health providers available for interview to discuss what challenges they faced when trying to achieve their vaccination goals, and what issues their patients encountered during the process. Providers reported that immunization records were often difficult to parse and scattered across disparate systems, including electronic health records (EHRs), immunization registries, public health databases, and incomplete paper records.

Additionally, vaccination schedules can be complex, with different vaccines recommended at various ages and intervals. Both health providers and parents had trouble keeping track of which vaccines children had received and when they are due for additional doses or booster shots.

Personas

Physicians are deeply committed to providing high-quality health care to their patients. Vaccine hesitancy, navigating complex medical histories, and cumbersome immunization records software are some of the many challenges they face.

Susan the Primary Care Physician Persona

Emma the Parent Persona

Parents want the best for their children, but often struggle to navigate the complexities of healthcare, particularly when it comes to vaccinations. These users need a tool for scheduling healthcare services, understanding vaccination recommendations, keeping track of children's vaccination status, and providing documented proof of vaccination for their child's school.

Ideation

Across every product in the STC Health Suite, we set out to solve specific problems that users had. Extensive diagramming helped to map our user's journey to their goal, determine high-level information architecture, and identify places to improve the overall experience.

Diagram showing the process for examining child and adolescent vaccination records — Userflow diagram

In addition to high-level diagramming, a variety of low-fidelity wireframes, mockups, and prototypes were created to test initial concepts for displaying the information and interacting with the tool. Based on feedback, the product was further refined through each iteration.

Grayscale wireframes with vaccination charts — Balsamiq wireframes

Grayscale mockups also with vaccination charts — Low-fidelity Sketch mockups

Solution

Utilizing the insights gained from our health providers, a comprehensive suite of applications was created to address our user's needs. Physicians were provided the means to easily track vaccination coverage rates for their practice or patient population using intuitive visualizations and charts. This helps identify areas with low vaccination rates, compare to benchmarks, and prioritize interventions to improve immunization coverage.

Interface displaying a bar graph of varying vaccination levels — Interactive vaccination coverage graphic for an elementary school

Other features include (but are not limited to): an interactive map feature that allows CDC monitors to visualize the real-time geographical distribution of diseases, a centralized repository for storing and accessing patient immunization records, and a built-in patient scheduling tool that notifies physicians when a patient is due for a shot.

Interfaces displaying bar graphs, questionnaires, maps, tables, and calendars — 6 products in the STC Health Suite: IQ, ImmsLink, Sentinel, SMaRT AFIX, VOMS, and IWeb

Additionally, a consumer-facing mobile app was created to help parents navigate the difficulties of fully vaccinating their family and easily schedule an appointment. MyIR syncs data with state departments of health and empowers users to access their children's detailed vaccination records directly from the application and recommends follow-up doses when necessary.

Interfaces displaying a login screen, family management, vaccine tables, articles, and vaccination records — MyIR - Immunization record application for iOS and Android

Parents can feel confident their making an informed decision for their kids thanks to MyIR's helpful educational resources related to various diseases and vaccinations. Lastly, it offers users the ability to quickly download and print proof-of-vaccination reports for their child's school.

Impact

Healthcare professionals expressed that streamlining administrative tasks related to vaccination management saved them time. The integrated appointment scheduling system and centralized immunization records eliminate the need for locating records manually, and allowed physicians to focus more on patient care.

Early reactions to MyIR showed that users appreciated the convenience of being able to collect their entire family's records in one place, and the peace of mind gained from reading reputable information about vaccines in the app.