TE7 - Point of Care Ultrasound
Mindray Biomedical
Role: Design Director, Designer UX, ID
Background
Ultrasound is no longer the sole domain of radiology departments and sonographers. Clinicians from a broad range of specialties have adopted the use of ultrasound to directly visualize anatomy, to perform difficult procedures more safely, to diagnose disease, and to pinpoint trauma. Perhaps most importantly, these clinicians are using ultrasound right where they need it; at the "point of care" (POC).
The TE7 is a touch-screen ultrasound device with a gesture based interface and it's purpose-built from the ground up for the Point of Care User.
The biggest challenges:
Simplifying a traditionally complex device intended for advanced users so that it could be used like a point and shoot camera
Converting an interface traditionally built around a physical keyboard and trackball into a fully touch-screen display
Initial Research
The project kicked off with an anemic one page brief including the target market and a list of competitive devices. A team was formed with ID, UX and Clinical members and research began with:
Definition of Use Cases
Acquisition and Review of competitive device training material, operator and service manuals
Development of a research plan
Competitive Devices
Field Research - Observational
Several hospitals and clinicians representative of the target market were visited for observation and interviews…
Selected Observations
Clinicians in this emergency room typically used 4 different probes but had to build their own holster for the "endo" probe. In the right image one probe cable had been wrapped in electrical tape due to damage sustained while it was dragged under the caster. A lengthy home-made user-guide was tethered to the device.
Ultrasound machines quickly get messy from gel and other fluids. Having Sani-Wipes handy is key to keeping the machine sanitary. Clinicians jury-rigged a holster for their sank-wipes (left). New users often have a hard time remembering the operation of the ultrasound system. Someone marked the important, frequently used keys on this system as a memory aid.
Field Research - Interviews
Having developed detailed interview protocols, clinicians were interviewed. The observations that had been made led to additional questions which were added to the protocol prior to subject interviews.
Concept Development
UI concepts evolved dramatically throughout the project. In the preliminary concept a "virtual trackpad" was considered. There was concern that users would object to interacting with the image area - possibly leaving ultrasound gel behind or having trouble seeing small objects that might be obscured by their fingers as they manipulated controls.
This type of issue can be debated for weeks but is best resolved in minutes through some light user testing. At this stage the team is determining the areas of the design that need the most input from actual users.
Early concepts (J. Judy)
Early User Testing
With feedback from internal stakeholders concepts were refined as the user interface and industrial design began to take shape. Questions inevitably arise that cannot be answered by common-sense or experience. These were flagged and worked into preliminary testing protocols. Formative testing sessions were used to address unresolved design decisions and to uncover errors and shortcomings of the developing design.
A group of users who were representative of the product's target market were recruited and presented with a test protocol designed by the UX, ID and Clinical team members. Testing can take many shapes and forms. In the case of the TE7, portions of the user interface had been developed using high fidelity prototyping tools. Ultrasound scanning is a highly interactive experience and low fidelity prototyping would simply not have been sufficient to uncover issues.
Early testing was conducted in-house to help solidify the concept and identify any areas of concern. A rough Industrial design model that incorporated the ergonomic functionality of the system without a developed aesthetic was used. A touchscreen was tethered to a PC running a prototype UI.
Design
Workflows were reviewed on a daily basis and refined until successful before sending storyboards and assets to developers.
Under a very tight schedule I separated the interface into 4 categories and work was divided between the team members. A style guide was developed and shared assets were used to develop workflows, dialogs, and interactions.
We benefited tremendously from an in-house clinical expert who we could call upon daily to review proposed solutions. Typically this was done using “paper prototypes” for the sake of speed. On occasion we made simple digital prototypes to simulate interactions.
Storyboarding
Storyboards were used for each workflow to convey functionality and interactions to the software team. The necessary assets were shared via .ai and .bmp files.
Our traditional branding incorporated skeuomorphic buttons and an existing contrasty color pallet. However this was tied to patient monitors and anesthesia devices. For the ultrasound product we wanted to remove all distraction so that the “viewing area” was most prominent. This led to the use of a mostly “flat” muted design.
A clinician working on a late build of the TE7 software during one of the final user testing sessions.
User Testing
User testing was performed on a prototype device at a number of area hospitals. Time constraints forced the team to prioritize critical / high risk workflows for testing. Fortunately, testing revealed very positive results and the changes that the team would recommend were minimal or could be delayed until a "second release" of the product software.
Testing involved a carefully developed and documented protocol as well as video of each session. With this data the design team submitted a final report and recommendations.
