Overview
You’ve likely heard this term in the news or in conversation — or maybe you’re even living it. The “gig economy” is used to describe a workforce primarily comprised of temporary or flexible jobs. It’s closely associated with freelance workers. While the concept of working a “gig” has been around for decades, today’s work landscape has taken the approach to an entirely new level. In fact, freelance workers are projected to make up more than half of the U.S. workforce by late 2021. People want flexibility — the ability to dictate their own terms and rates — and more people are looking for “work” rather than “a job.” Fifty years ago, the healthcare industry was the leader in the gig economy, with a freelance job market ahead of its time. But in recent years, the industry has fall behind . Compared to other industries that have embraced innovation and updated the way they hire workers, healthcare has
not advanced as quickly. Now, there is a need to bring the gig economy back to healthcare to address some of the largest problems facing the nursing industry: clinician turnover and staffing shortages. It’s estimated that the rate of turnover for nurses is 40 percent and about one in five home health aides report that they are actively looking for another job, in large part due to burnout and the lack of flexibility. So how can we prevent burnout and decrease turnover? One way is to bring back a focus on flexibility through the freelance and contract work that led the healthcare industry years ago. This type of gig work grants nurses the freedom to make their own schedule and the opportunity to expand their earning potential. The stage is set for Malama — the only app bridging the staffing gap between nurses and healthcare facilities.
Similar to the on-demand business models of TaskRabbit and Uber, Malama enables nurses to join a growing care community by giving them the opportunity to pick up extra shifts and earn additional income by setting their own rates, all the while helping to alleviate the nationwide nursing shortage.We are at a tipping point in the healthcare industry, with nursing shortage fears at an all-time high. The shift to a more flexible and on-demand nurse staffing model needs to happen. If the healthcare industry adopts a more structured freelance approach to staffing, it can start to keep pace across all aspects of the care continuum. With this potential in reach, healthcare workers are more excited than ever for what the future has in store for nurse staffing.
Research Goals
01
Gain a better understanding of the staffing process in the industry today and learn how users book help via mobile apps and online websites.
02
Gain insight on the types of jobs healthcare professionals seek, as well as which are most commonly available.
03
Learn common pain points and motivations of both clinics and clinicians when booking temporary hired help in the healthcare industry today.
Market Research
The research for this project focused on identifying a few core habits of both sets of users: facilities and providers. First, I analyzed the way facilities already research, plan, and book healthcare workers today by completing one-on-one and contextual interviews as well as extensive competitor analysis through online research. Second, I assessed each provider’s motivations when booking and accepting jobs. After reviewing the combined user data, I was able to identify patterns in user behavior and motivations based on their wants and needs. Using a data table, I compared top competitor apps by comparing their features with user wants and needs to identify their strengths and weaknesses.
Summary of Findings
Four total brands were analyzed and compared for competitive market research. Two of the brands were healthcare staffing apps, while the remaining two are well-known on-demand, gig economy based apps.
Malama should incorporate an on-demand, peer-to-peer business model similar to TaskRabbit, but instead of connecting taskers to tasks, Malama will connect nurses and clinicians to available shifts. Malama will not only allow for providers to manage their own schedules based on their lifestyle, but it will also give providers the opportunity to set their own rates based on their experience and professional skill sets.
“Nurses especially have a hard time being able to fulfill their calling because there’s too much friction when it comes to the staffing model. I’d like to see some development which empowers clinicians through technology, providing caregivers with innovative tools to be caregivers at their best.”
— Participant A
UI Ideation
The screenshots below illustrate my iterations toward the best interface. Decluttering was a major imperative, forcing me to consider which content was vital from a visual perspective.
Additionally, I made the top navigation menu larger, as well as the icons within, and added labels, which I learned had previously been an issue for users during my usability tests.
Context Matters
The first screenshot above might have been a fun way to display local providers, but it wasn’t practical for the target audience’s intended use. The app doesn’t have to be fun, and this approach doesn’t advance my goal of simplifying workflows to increase productivity for practitioners. Instead, it gives the user extra steps to finish their tasks. In this context, the less time the user spends in the app, the better.
There’s no need to think about vibrant colors, cool trends, exquisite animations, or branding for the Malama app. In a hospital environment, the focus should be on using Malama as a tool to improve staffing issues, not as an app for an app’s sake with a large color palette and cute icons. These considerations led me to consider using a more Material Design style approach.
The Material Design approach was clearer and advanced the initial goal, and the colors even resembled a hospital environment. However, color is less important when the information needs to be as clear as possible. Thus, the last approach aims to be as simple as possible by using colors only for specific call to actions, such as specific links and buttons that should be drawn to the user’s attention. More important than branding and beauty are clarity, speed, and ease of use — all of which required more decluttering (e.g., using a list view to display local providers allowed me to add the clinician’s photo, name, star rating, hourly rate, and provider type all in the same container, each neatly stacked, making the most of the limited space on the user’s screen). By the end of these iterations, I chose a simple light theme for my initial prototype. The light theme allowed me to take advantage of the white space and incorporate it into my overall design, giving the user a clean, uncluttered, minimalist aesthetic.
Usability Findings
01
Total of five volunteers for the test, three men and two woman. Due to COVID-19, 3 out of 5 participants were observed remotely via Zoom screen sharing, while the remaining two were observed in person.
02
Before performing each task, participants were asked to “think out loud” to get a better gauge of their user flow process.
03
Each participant was asked to complete the set of scenarios outlined in the Usability Test Plan.
04
Four out of five participants successfully finished each scenario from start to finish without any errors or hiccups. One participant struggled and offered suggestions.
05
Feedback recorded from each participant and adjustments were made accordingly. Each participant agreed to test the prototype a second time since there was much room for improvement discovered during the first.
06
All five participants successfully performed each scenario from start to finish without any issues.
Prototype
This is not a completely refined prototype, but rather an initial concept ready for validation before shifting toward higher fidelity prototypes. The main area that requires validation is the app’s platform-specific functionality. The UI screenshots only show a mobile app, but the app itself would need to be responsive and accessible across all devices.
Healthcare workers are often using tablets while making their rounds all day. Although the mobile app is the most portable and convenient for nurses to manage their calendars during shifts, its size and functionality constraints might make it difficult for clinic directors to manage more complex features like bookings and conversations about job and patient details.
Final Thoughts
Initially, I was nervous that the final app design would be too bland and boring, but I knew it didn’t make sense to just add trendy features for the sake of aesthetics. Healthcare tools need to be fast, efficient, and reliable — not visually appealing at the expense of slower performance and an unintuitive interface. I reminded myself of this often throughout this design process, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. Cutting down on the content by removing features which weren’t absolutely necessary for the user to complete the basic search and book tasks drastically improved the overall task flow of the app. Using cool tones and minimal colors while taking advantage of the white space eliminates distractions and allows users to focus on the content — which improves the overall workflow for both clinics and providers.
I welcome any thoughts or feedback about whether this solution is heading in the right direction, especially from readers who work in the healthcare industry. This was an interesting research project, and hopefully this case study will be useful both in bringing this app to market and encouraging designers to prioritize simplicity and usability in other contexts.
