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Information Architecture, Insight Article, Internet Strategy, Usability, User Experience Design, User Research, Visual Design, Web Content Management, Healthcare
7 Principles for Designing a Successful Hospital Web Site August 1st, 2009
No Comments With health information Web sites like WebMD setting the standard, hospital Web sites must at a minimum meet basic user expectations. Your hospital Web site is a direct extension of your brand and a poorly designed or outdated Web site will translate in the public’s perception to a poorly run hospital with outdated services.
What are the keys to developing a successful hospital Web site? All of the principles outlined below are rooted in the practice of user-centered design.
1. Design for Your Audience
First, you need to identify who your key audiences are and determine the reasons they go to your hospital’s Web site. What information are they looking for? What tasks are they trying to accomplish? Focus on their needs –as well as your hospital’s goals– as you develop the navigational structure, user interface design, and content.
Most hospital sites serve many diverse user groups. Structure and content should reflect the relative priorities of these groups – the emphasis placed on the groups that most greatly impact the hospitals strategic objectives.
For example, for children’s hospitals, the majority of Web site visitors are patient families, followed by family physicians looking for a place to refer patients who need specialized care. These two audiences may be looking for similar information, for example, information on a doctor, specialties, etc. However, you’ll need to be aware of their different information needs:
- A patient family member may want a checklist they can download for “what to bring for an overnight stay.”
- A family physician may want to read about the quality of treatment and outcomes for a specific condition.
Personas, user profiles and task diagrams are tools that can help all project participants remain focused on the target audience as the Web site is built.
2. Develop and Architect Your Content in a Way that Supports Users’ Tasks
Think about a parent of a child that has Cystic Fibrosis. What tasks do they want to accomplish? They want to read about that condition, find out about the doctors and staff that will work with their child, see if the hospital is involved in any clinical trials or research on the subject. They may want links to resources that the hospital deems reputable (e.g., the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation). To accommodate this user’s needs, you may want to allow the user to view content around the condition, not by hospital department.
Luckily, when an organization uses a content managements system (CMS) the same content can appear in context of the “condition,” but also appear in sub areas (e.g., doctor listings, research) without having to enter the content multiple times.
High level information architecture documents will help create the best organizational structure for the hospital needs and a good CMS will need to be put into place.
3. Speak the Language of the Audience
This can be challenging in hospital settings because the audience types may speak different languages – theoretically. For example, although physicians and other hospital staff will know what nephrology is, most patients and families will just look for kidney disease. You need to write your content in a way that is easy for these audiences to digest while also providing a place for more technical terms. Content Strategy can help map this out.
4. Focus Your Resources
With budgets tightening, it’s important to identify the most important tasks and functions, determine the time and costs of development, and prioritize accordingly. For example, the project team wants the Web site user to have a great tool to “find a doctor” but you also want a robust 3D virtual hospital tour. If user research shows that the #1 reason people come to your site is to learn about the physicians and you don’t have money to implement both tools, it’s better to do one really well and leave the other enhancement for a later project phase.
User research methods like surveys and focus groups will help identify and prioritize key audience needs.
5. Usability Testing
Organizations that choose to conduct usability testing on their projects eliminate costly errors. Observing key audience segments interacting with the Web site prior to it going live will uncover areas of potential confusion. Simple changes to content, navigation and the user interface can then be made prior to investing in development and launching the site.
6. Prepare for Online Interactions
Scheduling appointments, paying bills, and viewing medical records online? The reality is that online audiences expect this functionality, so it’s better to start planning now. Some of these activities will cause process changes and require a cultural shift within the healthcare industry. Some doctors are reluctant to have consumers view their detailed medical records for fear that they will misread diagnosis details. Others don’t want to give consumers the ability to select their own appointments.
Information Week devoted its August 17th cover story to the Electronic Medical Record and warns that it “is neither cheap nor easy” but the payoffs are huge.
7. Develop a Governance Model
A solid plan for maintaining and updating site content is essential to a hospital Web site’s success. Let’s say you’ve purchased an expensive closet system and created an organized place to store your clothes, shoes, etc. If you don’t have rules in place that dictate where you hang your shirts, or whether books or children’s toys are allowed in the closet, it will quickly turn into a mess. The same is true for your Web site. Processes and procedures must be developed and followed in order to keep the Web site organized and relevant.
Governance Models with executive approval will help the staff charged with maintaining and enhancing the Web site be successful.
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