A Heuristics Usability Study For MiraKare’s Application For Caregiver
HITLAB Team • November 1, 2023
In the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare accessibility and delivery, caregivers play a pivotal role in providing essential support to those in need. In an age where technology is becoming increasingly intertwined with the daily demands of caregiving, ensuring that caregivers are equipped with tools that are not only functional but also user-friendly is paramount. We embarked on a journey to dissect and evaluate the user experience of a caregiver platform through a heuristics usability study. This exploration led us into the intricate world of caregivers, their unique needs, and how well the application addresses them.
HITLAB conducted a comprehensive assessment of MiraKare, a platform designed to improve the lives of caregivers and care recipients. The analysis focused on the design and functionality of the user interface, ease of use, and most importantly, applicability in real-world healthcare settings. The evaluation was conducted in a mock-up environment utilizing established usability guidelines and industry best practices to evaluate the platform. HITLAB evaluated functionality in terms of interface design, ease of use, issues or errors, visibility, and overall user experience, providing feasible recommendations and suggestions to aid functionality and enhancements for the platform.
MiraKare is a promising health tech start-up with a novel mission: to improve the lives of caregivers and care recipients. Recognizing the stress and overwhelming nature of caregiving, MiraKare is dedicated to reducing caregivers’ burden and improving the quality of life for those in need of care by providing tools to manage their lives.
The underlying idea is to centralize care management by facilitating efficient documentation and care coordination. This means capturing critical information such as daily caregiving activities, notes, events, and key contacts in a single, accessible place so caregivers can share critical information with each other easily. MiraKare goes beyond simply centralizing information; the platform automatically captures key health vitals via wearables and IoT devices, as well as publicly available data. MiraKare then overlays analytics to provide deep insights into the care recipient’s needs, helping caregivers identify potential problems early on and make informed decisions about care.
Heuristic evaluation, often referred to as heuristic analysis, is a widely employed approach for scrutinizing digital solutions to uncover usability issues. During this procedure, seasoned evaluators and health-tech researchers examine the user interface while evaluating its alignment with established usability principles.
The heuristic evaluation conducted by HITLAB assessed every functionality and element of the MiraKare application in the mock-up environment and identified specific areas for discussion and modification that will set up the commercial version of the application for efficiency and effectiveness in functionality. For all domains, specific enhancements and adjustments were also suggested for a more meaningful representation of the application’s data. HITLAB found the platform is well structured for both information and navigation. The application received high scores in recognition as opposed to recall, thereby minimizing the user’s memory load, visibility, and system status that keeps users informed about what is going on, in having a minimal aesthetic and design and in having a comprehensive Help and FAQ section handy.
The platform allows multiple caregivers to access and manage a single care recipient at a time and cater to a comprehensive healthcare experience. Family members and other members of the care team can also be added to the platform, creating a community of caregivers who can provide support around the clock. HITLAB specifically praises this unique and essential functionality of the platform. Mirakare is mindful of the burden caregivers currently wade through their days and caters to reducing it substantially.
HITLAB’s recommendations and suggestions aligned well with MiraKare’s vision of the application and are currently being incorporated in the commercial version, which will be ready in early Q1 2024.
HITLAB’s heuristic evaluation determined that MiraKare’s caregiver platform is a highly valuable and handy tool in the healthcare delivery technology landscape. The demand for caregiving is increasing, and the gap in quality of care is at risk of growing wider. In this scenario, technologies like the MiraKare application can be a great savior and significantly shape the future landscape of caregiving.
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