“Pharma”- A UX Case Study of a Prescription Delivery Application

This is a design assignment. The designs and documentation took me 5 days to complete.

Problem Statement

The eCommerce industry in Nigeria is rapidly growing and evolving. One can place an order for a range of items from a dress to electronics online. The rapid growth of the eCommerce industry has created an avenue for people to solve interesting issues.
People get medication for pre-existing conditions or otherwise every day but are constrained to the process of visiting a pharmacy to get them. The main premise of “ Pharma” is to provide prescription delivery services to users which will enable them to renew or request a new prescription.

Insight Into Existing Medical/Prescription Delivery Applications and Websites

To successfully execute this project, I conducted user interviews to get a better understanding of user needs and also reviewed similar apps and websites Such as Medplus, Onehealth, Drugstore.ng, Practo, BSG Research, Echo and CareKojo. However, some of these apps are not available in my location (Nigeria) and this hindered me from fully exploring all the features of the apps.

User interviews were conducted with 8 people ranging from the ages of 22–56 year old. This interview aimed to ascertain:
1. If they had made use of a prescription delivery service in the past.
2.How likely it is for people in this age group to make use of prescription delivery service.
3. What would be their main concern of using such services within the Nigerian context.
4. Problems or constraints they face when getting prescribed or Over The Counter (OTC) medication.
These interviews were recorded with the permission of the users and were either carried out on the phone or in person.

From these interviews, the most noted concern of users was trust in the quality and authenticity of medication they would be getting while making use of the application and long also delivery time.

After completion of user interviews, the following user personas were created:

Brainstorming and Ideation Phase

Now that I properly understood the users and their main concerns with making use of a prescription delivery service, I came up with two ideas:

1. Developing the platform strictly for hospitals: Developing the mobile app to be implemented only in hospitals and made use of by only hospital patients. Users can renew a prescription, request for a prescription and even conduct a doctor all from the hospital they frequent the most.

Pros
*Trust in quality and authenticity of drugs and prescription: Since the app will be attached to the user's primary health provider, a sense of trust and security will exist

Con
* Restricts our audience: People who mostly make use of the app will be returning patients in hospitals alone which might restrict the number of people who make use of the application.

2. Doctors Vetting Medication: Including a feature where users can opt for a qualified doctor vetting medication after they place their order and before it is sent to them.

Pros
* Trust in the authenticity of prescription: This will assure the user that what they order is what they get

Con
* Compliance: There is a possibility that some doctors may skip the step of vetting all prescriptions before they are sent out to patients. This will ultimately defeat the purpose of this idea.
* Longer Delivery Time: This extra step might result in a longer delivery time as each medication will need to be vetted before being sent out to patients.

Solution

Based on user research and ideation, the solution which best caters to users in renewing and requesting for prescription is below:

A Multi-functional Prescription Delivery platform
A platform where users can order from pharmacies closest to them, but also have an option to receive a prescription from their dedicated health providers. The target audience for this project are Millennials and Gen X with the following goals in mind:

1. Creating a sense of trust and security among users
2. Ensuring quick and swift delivery.

UI Screens

The goal of “Pharma” is to ensure that its users renew and request medication with ease. Below are screens that show the process of how these tasks can be achieved using Pharma for both new and returning users:

1. Requesting and Renewing Prescription(New User)

The screens above depict the user flow of a new user on the “Pharma” application.
First-time users are given the option to upload their prescription notes on the application to purchase strictly prescribed medication that cannot be gotten over the counter. These steps can be taken if the first time user wishes to either request or renew prescribed medication.

2. Renewing Prescription (Return User)

User flow for renewing prescriptions (Returning User)

In the same sense, returning users can also renew their prescriptions on the application. To have the full experience, the Pharma app will require that the user inputs all prescribed medication (along with prescription notes if available) currently being used either personally or by dependents (as seen in screen 2 ).

3. Requesting for New Prescription (Returning Users)

Users can also send a request for a new prescription using the pharma app as seen in the image above. Placing a request or changing to a new prescription usually requires a test or a discussion with a Pharmacist or Doctor to adequately gauge the patient's condition. “Pharma” seeks to replicate this process (as seen on screen 3).

On clicking “Request for new prescription”, the user is given a form to fill out to provide reasons for this request. After this is completed, the user then has an option to send to preferred pharmacy or hospital (as seen on screen 4 &5). At the end of this process, the user will be informed on whether or not they will be required to come in for further tests before a new prescription is sent to them. If further tests are not required, an invoice is sent to the user's email to enable them to make payment.

4. Order for Medication (All Users)

Returning and new users on “Pharma” can order Over the Counter (OTC) medication from the application. These are medications that can ordinarily be gotten over the counter at a pharmacy without a prescription e.g. Vitamins, Antacids etc.

Now, Let’s see how I tried to achieve the goals set above through this solution

1. Creating a sense of trust and security among users

2. Ensuring quick and swift delivery.

Validation of Solution and Design Process

To validate my solution and design process, I created a prototype and tested the product (Pharma) with my target audience; making sure to ask the following questions:

1. What do you think of this product (This was asked on the homepage to gauge user reaction)
2. Why do you think you can trust this product? (what features give you a sense of security).
3. Would you use this product today to get your medication?
4. What do you think of the ordering process on the platform? (Smooth or frustrating).

The answers provided for the questions above validated that the “Pharma” app aids users in renewing and requesting a prescription in an effective, efficient and satisfactory manner.

Link to “Pharma” Prototype: https://www.figma.com/proto/oqJGqxoCIAoDDY3T6rn28V/Medical-App?node-id=1%3A2&scaling=scale-down&page-id=0%3A1

Thanks for reading!

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