HITLAB Team • November 2, 2023
The evaluation of digital health solutions’ usability is crucial for enhancing patient-provider coordination in the digital landscape. It forms the foundation for streamlining interactions between healthcare professionals and patients online.
Recently, HITLAB conducted an extensive assessment of Health Circuit’s Surgifit™ web platform and mobile application. The focus was on scrutinizing the user interface’s design and functionality, ensuring ease of use, and assessing its practicality in real-world healthcare scenarios. This evaluation adhered to established usability standards and industry best practices. Its aim was to gauge functionality concerning interface design, user-friendliness, error identification, visibility, and overall user experience. As a result, HITLAB provided practical recommendations and suggestions to refine and improve both the platform and mobile application
Health-Circuit is an spin-off company of hospital Clínic Barcelona with an integrated healthcare management system based on collaborative work with digital support. Health Circuit offers solutions for service-specific verticals such as services for surgical prehabilitation (Surgifit™), Home-based delivery of acute hospital services, and Community-based management of complex chronic patients with high risk for hospitalization.
Surgifit™ is a digital preventive preoperative and personalized program designed to enhance patients’ functional status by improving perioperative outcomes – postoperative complications, hospital length of stay, and use of healthcare resources at 30 days. HITLAB tested the usability, feasibility, and functionality of Surgifit’s web platform and mobile application. Surgifit™ is aimed at high-risk patients who are planning to undergo major surgical procedures. The aim is to reduce complications arising from surgeries and provide optimal care to the patient post-surgery. The web platform is available for physicians and specialists, while the patients use a mobile-based application. The web platform and mobile application are designed to connect physicians and patients in a real-time and dynamic manner. Surgfit™ allows a physician to assess and monitor a patient’s medical assessments for the anaesthesiologist, optimize nutrition, promote physical activity, and provide psychological support. Other service-specific verticals will be available soon.
Heuristic evaluation, also known as heuristic analysis, is a commonly used method for examining digital solutions and identifying usability problems. In this process, experienced evaluators and health-tech researchers assess the user interface and its adherence to well-accepted usability principles.
First and foremost, these evaluations ensure that these digital tools are designed with user-friendliness in mind. When patients and providers find these platforms easy to navigate and comprehend, it enhances their overall experience. The frustration of grappling with complex interfaces is eliminated, promoting active engagement and seamless communication.
Efficiency in communication is another pivotal outcome. Usability evaluations ensure that the digital health solutions facilitate swift and accurate information exchange between patients and providers. This is crucial for sharing critical health data, discussing treatment strategies, and addressing any patient concerns in a timely manner.
The heuristic evaluation conducted by HITLAB evaluated every functionality and element and identified specific barriers for deliberation and modification that will allow for efficient and effective use of Surgifit’s web platform and mobile application. Specific enhancements and adjustments were also suggested to aid the platform and mobile application’s interactiveness, visual appeal, and functionality. HITLAB found the platform pleasing to view and navigate for an inexperienced user. The platform received high scores in maintaining consistency and standards and having a minimal aesthetic and design. Additionally, the platform utilized simple language throughout its structure, aligning with users’ real-world expectations of an easy-to-use interface.
The platform places the physician in a patient case-manager role who can set up appointments and request other resources from a specialist. This allows for regulated monitoring of a patient’s needs by a single entity, thus making care delivery simple. The platform supports online appointments with both the physician and specialist that the case manager and the specialist can determine. Surgifit™ considers the sensitivity of the population it caters to and has built in various checkpoints and assessments to streamline monitoring and evaluation of a patient’s pre-surgery health. This also makes it lucrative for healthcare providers to provide monitored care and review the quality of care they deliver.
The platform places the physician in a patient case-manager role who can set up appointments and request other resources from a specialist. This allows for regulated monitoring of a patient’s needs by a single entity, thus making care delivery simple. The platform supports online appointments with both the physician and specialist that the case manager and the specialist can determine. Surgifit™ considers the sensitivity of the population it caters to and has built in various checkpoints and assessments to streamline monitoring and evaluation of a patient’s pre-surgery health. This also makes it lucrative for healthcare providers to provide monitored care and review the quality of care they deliver.
In conclusion, HITLAB’s comprehensive assessment of Surgifit’s web platform and mobile application underscores the platform’s potential to revolutionize healthcare management. Through a meticulous evaluation of design, usability, and real-world applicability, HITLAB provided valuable recommendations to enhance Surgifit’s functionality. Surgifit’s consideration of patient sensitivity and its focus on streamlined monitoring and evaluation are commendable. Overall, Surgifit’s potential to simplify healthcare delivery and improve patient outcomes is promising, and with the suggested enhancements, it stands poised to make a significant impact in the healthcare industry.
HITLAB’s unwavering commitment to evaluating digital health solutions embodies a profound dedication to enhancing user-centricity in healthcare technology. At the heart of this commitment lies a recognition of the pivotal role that user experience plays in the success of these solutions.
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