Project Overview
The Clinical Trials Management System (CTMS), is a constituent management tool used by the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PCAN) and their call center, Patient Central. CTMS allows users to create and manage constituent contacts and clinical trial information as well as produce reports that can be used to provide insight into the success of initiatives within the organization.
After conducting an in-depth research and discovery phase and selling the client on our enhancement approach, my team started working on the 3 biggest areas of opportunity we identified. These enhancements centered primarily around the Patient Central team and their most common tasks.
Product Design, Interaction Design | Pancreatic Cancer Action Network | June 2016 - December 2017 (6 months)
Framing Goals for Redesign
Before diving into the redesign effort, my team and I utilized the information we gained through research and discovery to define 4 guiding principles that we wanted all of our efforts to work within.
Appropriate Consolidation
Associates are required to track information in multiple places. We want to create purposeful, contextually relevant spaces for inputting information.
Associate Focus
Associates spend most of their time in CTMS. We want to build a system that readily surfaces features to help them with efficiency, leaving the data and reporting out-of-mind.
Scalable Solutions
Patient Central provides an ever-growing list of services to its constituents. We want to create flexibility in the interface to hasten the process when new features are introduced.
Recognition vs Recall
Every tracking initiative requires associates to learn a specific set of rules and caveats. We want the system to facilitate protocol and present tracking questions only when required.
Interactions and Interaction History
Based on the importance of having quality tracking functionality and the frequency of use, Interactions and Interaction History were the focus of the first phase of CTMS enhancements. For every exchange a constituent has with Patient Central, an associate is required to fill out an Interaction Form in order to capture the characteristics of their conversation and add it to the Interaction History Table for that constituent.
The goal of our redesign was to create a streamlined and intuitive flow for data entry and an at-a-glance overview of previous constituent interactions.
Current Process Map
In the current process, associates are required to enter data into three different tracking systems in order to meet the reporting needs of their management team.
Proposed Process Map
In the proposed process, CTMS will incorporate all of the tracking needs within one system allowing the associates to focus more on their conversations with constituents than data entry.
Current Interaction Form
Prototyping and Testing
Interactive Prototype
Leveraging Axure's abilities to create somewhat sophisticated conditional form logic, I built an interactive prototype of the proposed solution for the Interaction Form. The solution focused on simplification, streamlining information capture, and consolidating forms. Creating sections that expanded and collapsed and re-ordering them on the form allowed us to direct the associates' attention to the most important information to capture.
Usability Testing
In order to test the strength of our solution, my team created a 10 question survey that was sent to 14 members of the Patient Central team.
The survey asked 5 Likert scale System Usability Scale questions.
The participants were also asked directly to provide 3 things they liked and 3 things they disliked about the CTMS enhancements. The answers focused on 3 distinct areas: Details of Individual Topics, Layout of Features, and Expansion of Features.
“I really like the general flow of this page. It asks the more general information first and leads up to the more specific information about the conversation and the patient.”
With the feedback, the team took a look at adding some additional areas of functionality, working through the nomenclature, and assessing the layout.
Final Solution
Pattern of Conditional Questions
Placed questions in context
Created space to capture information that was being lost in notes
Provided ability to incorporate new tracking as Patient Central continues to grow its offerings
Consolidated Questions and Forms
Reduced the number of clicks required by combining questions
Allowed associate to create a Clinical Trial Follow Up Reminder or Follow Up Survey in page (reducing 3 forms to 1)
In the previous state of the form, multiple questions were asked when only one was really needed. In this case an Interaction could only be the result of one or the other, not both.
Form Flow and Input Patterns
Allowed for easy switching between Call, Email and Note interactions
Improved visual layout for scannability and reduced form completion time
Prioritized Interaction Topics over Additional Notes
Created collapsible sections that suggest relevant information
Interaction History
Adjusted column widths to prioritize information
Incorporated Interaction Topics along with Additional Details to provide a comprehensive overview
Improved visual styling to provide scannability
The previous state of Interaction History did not allow for easy scannability of the Detail section.
In the redesigned Interaction History table, users can see detailed notes on their conversation and actions performed during an interaction separated by topic.
Tracking Success
Because of our continued relationship with the client, we were able to track the success of these enhancements over time. In just 3 months following launch, Patient Central Managers noticed significant improvements in the following areas:
Reduced time entering Interaction data
More timely entry of Interactions
Reduced time reviewing Interaction History
Reduced time to train new associates to use Interaction form
Fewer mistakes in following protocol when entering interactions
