Investigating the UX of a cutting-edge, hand-held, medical device for the eye.
Problem
Context
I worked in a research team of 2 for a large medical device manufacturer that I shall refer to as “Medical Device Company A.” We were given a device in its formative phase and a vast field of questions from the company varying from ease of use to design aesthetic to prototype concepts and everything in between. Our team of stakeholders did not know how to go about research for this device and gave us a tight deadline to provide insights.
The device itself is a novel ophthalmic device used to treat patients with a specific eye condition. It is hand-held and used by optometrists, ophthalmologists, or lab technicians. The device’s components include hardware and software such as a touch screen to display results, multi-functional buttons, an imaging system, etc. and is used in the eye region of patients.
My research plan involved assessing the following aspects of the user’s experience:
legibility of the screen
ease of use of the buttons
usability of imaging system
processing & transferring data from the device to the hospital computer system
A/B/C/D prototype test
treatment on real patients
pain levels for patients caused by the device
Considerations
Diving into research with this device was difficult, because my company had so many different questions that required different testing plans. I decided that it was important to me and valuable to the company to test in a way that could assess multiple aspects of the device in a short amount of time. Instead of drafting up surveys or watching users from behind the glass I decided to create an extremely realistic lab environment for the surgeons and have them use the device as they normally would on patients.
I wanted to test relationships between different device features in order to get a good understanding of how this device is performing and how users are feeling.
What is the relationship between prototype A and data processing speed?
What is the relationship between the legibility of the screen and pain levels on real patients during treatment?
Could the legibility of the screen even have an affect on patient pain or satisfaction?
These are the details I was itching to uncover. I created space for conversations with users after going through task-guided sessions so that we could take these findings and use them to integrate design features in the best possible way for the people who will actually use this device in their everyday lives. For quantitative data collection I had users rate how easy or difficult it was to perform each task on a scale that I designed.
Here’s what happened
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Impact
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.