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VHA UX Guide
As a part of my Master's Program in Interaction Design and Information Architecture, I collaborated with the Veterans Health Administration on a project to enhance the standard of care for mental and physical health. Focusing on Clinical Application Coordinators (CACs) in VA Hospitals, the project involved developing a space to provide user-centered tools and resources (VHA UX Guide).
The primary goal of the User Experience Guide for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) system is to assist VHA project teams, specifically Clinical Application Coordinators (CAC) and other VHA center staff, in implementing best practices of User Experience (UX) Design and Human Factors Engineering in their clinical workflows.
Currently hosted on GitHub, the VHA UX Guide contains instructional content in various formats, including Word documents and multimedia resources.
To enhance accessibility and usability, the guide will transition to a SharePoint format, maintaining its comprehensive content while offering an even more user-friendly experience for the VHA community
THE INITIAL PHASE OF THE PROJECT
Story of the VHA UX Guide
Clinical Application Coordinators are working to provide world-class service for veterans, working for the betterment of our shared world.
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Purpose:
Give the CACs the tools to make our world a better place.
Help the CACs find better processes so that customer service remains the first priority.
MEET OUR USERS
Our target audience consists of clinical application coordinators. In our user persona development, we are focused on evaluating the interactions and behaviors exhibited by both expert and novice users within this group.
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Embark on Oliver's Journey
Oliver, a recent addition to the department, is preparing for an upcoming team meeting where he needs to present data from an information flow analysis and identify potential risks.
Eager to make an impact and still finding his footing, Oliver initiates research on the subject. Despite being unfamiliar with the VHA UX Guide recommended by colleagues, he explores the guide for relevant sources.
Oliver aims to identify comparable methods to enhance his data analysis for the upcoming meeting.
Actions
Thoughts
Feelings
01.
Discover and Navigate
Explore the platform to understand its features and layout.
Try to locate the content.
“Where should I start?”
“There is a lot of information”
Overwhelmed and intrigued
02.
Refine focus and Evaluate
Filter the information to focus on the content that matches the search objective.
Get Results
“I hope this category has what I need”
“This seems easy”
Curiosity and anticipation
03.
Immerse and capture Insights
Assess the identified results to determine their relevance and effectiveness.
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Engage in reading with the gathered information.
“I wish I could see what others have used for this topic. It would help me understand better and make decisions more easily."
Uncertainty mixed with curiosity
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Optimize
Collect and prepare the final results for thorough analysis.
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Save useful information for future reference and optimization.
"This looks good, but I'm short on time to delve into it now."
"It's frustrating that I can't save my favorites here for later."
Time-pressed and frustrated
Embark on Charlotte's Journey
Charlotte, as a mentor to two new hires, is actively facilitating their onboarding by providing training on the office's daily activities. This ensures a seamless transition into their new roles and effective integration into the team.
Recognizing the value of the VHA UX Guide, Charlotte introduces it to the newcomers, encouraging them to utilize it as a valuable learning tool.
In her commitment to their development, Charlotte plans to create topic-specific training materials using the VHA UX Guide, enhancing their understanding and proficiency.
Actions
Thoughts
Feelings
01.
Discover and Navigate
Locates content based on her familiarity with the site.
Draws upon previous experience to navigate efficiently.
"I know this platform well; let's find what I need quickly."
Confidence and comfort.
02.
Refine focus and Evaluate
Selects the specific content aligned with her mentoring goals.
Applies her expertise to discern the most relevant materials.
"This content will be perfect for guiding my mentees."
"Ugh, I've done this so many times."
Fulfillment mixed with a sense of routine weariness.
03.
Immerse and capture Insights
Saves selected content for easy access.
Creates organized groups to streamline future reference.
"Organizing now will save time for future mentoring sessions."
"When will they automate this? This process is too manual."
Efficiency and anticipation, mixed with a hint of frustration.
04
Optimize
Shares the curated learning path with her mentees.
Encourages collaborative learning and growth.
"This content will empower my mentees in their development."
"I want to find an effective way to make this accessible for them."
Fulfillment and empowerment, along with a sense of responsibility.
How do other organizations facilitate learning?
We looked at what other organizations did to create their own educational material.
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As this is a UX learning guide, we focused on dedicated online learning platforms to see how they measure up.
We came up with the following ‘competitors’:
HOW DOES
THE VHA UX GUIDE STACK UP?
The VHA UX Guide is the only educational resource that focuses on human-centered design user experience techniques for Clinical Application Coordinators (CACs) across VA Hospitals to advance the standard of care through the adoption of human-centered design during a time when mental and physical health need more attentive care than ever.
VHA UX GUIDE SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Tailored specifically to VHA CACs and clinical use cases.
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Content organized in dedicated ‘Phases’ per Process from Ben Allegretti Consulting.
Free access for VA employees.
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Multimedia –contains word documents, images, and video files.
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The repository format allows for asynchronous access.
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Consistent branding throughout the guide – all VHA UX learning materials are clearly a part of the ‘VHA UX’ repository.
Opportunities
Finalize all material and port to a UI that isn’t a file repository.
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Incorporate personnel training sessions with the new learning solution.
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VHA specific use case allows for more focus on VA/Federal specific topics like 508 compliance.
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Awareness of UX as a practice and its benefits is growing, more users are more likely to take interest.
Weaknesses
Content is not finalized, many documents are either ‘in progress’, ‘ready review’, or missing from thefinal UX Guide Folder Structure.
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Current file repository format isn’t conducive to a friendly user experience. More of a ‘resources list’ than an interactive guide or learning platform.
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No human-interaction between an instructor and the user.
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As-written, the VHA UX Guide is a guide, there is currently no way to collect feedback or assess if CACs are implementing what they learn.
Threats
If content isn’t finalized, users might get frustrated and confused and turn to more
complete UX learning resources.
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Users might turn to solutions that offer human instructors if they are not satisfied with digital media.
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Continuously updating and maintaining the UX learning material may incur additional costs and time.
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CACs might read the UX guide, and still incorrectly implement UX practices.
Recommendations
Embark on a journey into our recommendations, finely tuned to cater to the distinctive needs of our personas, Oliver and Charlotte, and enriched by the comprehensive analyses conducted. Envision a user-centric landscape meticulously crafted to elevate their experiences and nurture seamless interactions.
Short-Term Recommendations
All written material should be finalized and reviewed - there is still missing material.
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Conduct a card sorting activity with actual Clinical Application Coordinators to get an understanding of their mental model.
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Design for 508 compliance and for those with disabilities. Utilize alt tags for screen readers in page elements, and color schemes that are in sync with the VA style guide while still providing enough color contrast for individuals who might have some form of vision impairment.
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Use plain language whenever possible to maximize ease of use.
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Move away from SharePoint to build a dedicated website and UI.
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If possible, integrate with any existing learning platforms that the VA utilizes for CACs.
Advice for the Search Experience
Recognize a connection between the variants of a word.
Allow users to search with incorrect spelling and show results for the correct one. Display information for the users to know when a word is spelled incorrectly.
Don’t treat uppercase and lowercase letters in words as different search terms!
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Auto-complete and auto-suggest in a drop-down list of options for the user to select and complete the query, and not in the search field.
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Include “Best Bets!” Suggest a popular method even if it differs from the search term.
Even if a search returns “no results”!
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Mobile search should function exactly the same as search via a desktop computer.
Mobile should support responsive design.
Peer-to-Peer Learning: Recommendations for the Future
Embrace a 'democratized learning' paradigm, empowering users to self-learn, become experts, and facilitate peer coaching for enhanced communication within VHA centers.
Give the users the ability to create their learning paths and compile links into ‘courses’ or lesson plans.
Encourage user feedback and content contribution.
Illustrate UX concepts through real-world VHA use cases for enhanced learning.
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Promote interactions among CACs and enhance communication
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Tailor the approach based on budget considerations, either by developing an in-house web learning platform or exploring specialized enterprise learning software from vendors like Absorb, SAP, or Cornerstone OnDemand.