Device compatibility for virtual appointments
In response to the surge in demand for personalized and convenient interactions, we developed eClinic, a video consultation platform in 2018. The platform caters to healthcare professionals and patients, offering scheduling flexibility and a comprehensive interaction history with report generation.
The COVID-19 pandemic further emphasized the need for such a solution, aligning with the changing preferences and circumstances of users.
Project background
To begin with, we started with basic features that would allow 1-1 interaction like mute/unmute, and camera on/off. Before moving to a client demo, we wanted to test the basic flow of the app with a bunch of users. While testing internally with the team, this seemed fine. We hence started doing pilots with a few smaller clients. As time spanned, we started getting lots of complaints and moments of frustration from the people.
We further diagnosed the issue internally only to find out that, the connection was getting established but somehow they were not able to join the call. We also saw a lot of call drops during this phase.
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As a prototype product, we couldn't invest in detailed analytics to figure out what was the issue. Hence, we decided to do this through interviews with the clients. After a few interviews, we started seeing a pattern of complaints or queries which gave us an idea of what was happening on the other side. Some of these were network fluctuations, shared devices in smaller areas, and limited bandwidth.
The target audience for these clients was in the age group of 50 - 70 years and mostly in the role of Clinician - Patient.
Secondary research
With this previous information, we started having a hunch that there might be more such factors that could lead to users not being able to join a virtual call.
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While researching, a lot of topics surfaced that were not network related like
Unfamiliar user interfaces . Lack of technical knowledge . Lack of communication around the call.
"Most of our calls were not up to the expectation as users faced network disturbance along with issues that restricted them from joining the call itself"
User interviews
To understand the above factors in-depth, we went ahead with user interviews. The following is the persona we were looking at, concentrating on the patient side of study.
Ram Mohan Singh
Retired servicemen
About​
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Age - 50 to 70 yrs
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Awareness of technology - Medium to low
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Family Structure - Independent or Nuclear
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​Household income - 20,000 Rupees/month
Frustrations​
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Travelling takes up a lot of time
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Dependent on other's availability
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Unable to keep up with technology
Motivations
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Enjoy longer periods of health
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Able to spend more time with family
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Have better access to services
Goals
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Become independent to handle health crises better
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Aware of oneself to action better in critical situations.
One of the major areas of understanding from these user interviews was to get more insights on the following
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​​1. What according to them is the reason why their call/consultations get disconnected or dropped?
2. What do they do when they are trying to connect back to the call?
3. What is the user's level of understanding of technology, specific to mobile phones and applications?
4. How dependent are these users when talked about from the perspective of virtual consultations?
5. What type of internet speed are the users at?
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Below are some of the responses that highlighted our findings and help carry forward the pain points.
Getting patients to test their devices before the session
We wanted a feature that would allow the patient to check the compatibility of their device and also inform the doctors about the same.
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We hence introduced 'Device testing' - this would be a link that would be sent to the patient a few days and on the day of their appointment. This would automatically test the patient's device for camera and audio permissions, network bandwidth, and device and browser compatibility.
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The same was also available to them before joining the call. It would be real-time information that the doctors can action on.
Journey showing how the device compatibility test is done
Device test for patient
Below screens showcases how patient flows from one step to another in automated steps. When patient faces any error with any of the steps, they are informed on how to resolve the same and the information also goes back to the patient. Making it easier to troubleshoot.
Device test results for doctors
Before beginning the call, doctors can see the device test results of their patients. If the patients test their device while on the call- the doctor will get real-time update on the status and can reach out to the patient to troubleshoot.
Adoption of
the feature
44%
Appointments had patients taking the ‘device test’.
Positive feedback from hospital IT/support staff as more data readily available for troubleshooting.
All hospitals wanted to enable this feature for their appointments.
Patients able to follow instructions provided on the UI in case of minor errors and resolve it themselves.