How do we reflect market feedback to the app design?

You have a healthcare app in hand made out of a great idea connecting doctors and patients, but now sure how your end-users like it? Here are some of the findings that we have come across while testing a world-known healthcare app for the last 4 years.

In recent years, a number of innovators in the healthcare sector have mentioned the term “design thinking” which refers to a human-centered approach to innovation and product design.

Some describe it as a non-linear, iterative process that seeks to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems, celebrate constraints, and create innovative solutions to prototype and test.

It means the improvements are powered by feedback from users and teams working on quality assurance. And while we perform full-cycle testing as a quality assurance partner, there are a few learnings we concluded.

6 things to remember when testing

Areas of Focus:
Data Management and Confidentiality

1. Usability
2. Performance
3. Automation
4. Compatibility
5. Regulations
6. Compliance

With regards to usability, functions often appreciated by end-users include:

• Module allows patients choose doctor based on qualifications and seniority
• Module facilitates direct bookings with the hospital
• Module keeps a diary of patients about their recent visits and conditions
• Module gives a guide on appropriate nutrition makeup to help faster recovery
• Module keeps history of prescribed medications for patients
• Module allows patients to restock medication without having to visit the hospital
• Module provides tips on decision making for doctors
• Module maintains efficient authentication and easy access to management features
• Module enables secure and fast e-checkout

These are just some of the examples and popular healthcare apps mind functions that meet needs of core users – doctors, patients, hospital authority and else.

Common mistakes found during testing

Easily overlooked system errors include:

• Data value is altered and rounded wrongly for example body temperature 38.5 displayed as 40 C
• The analysis chart does not show all statistical data
• The time to reflect data from the patient to the doctor is too long
• Data is updated or deleted but not reflected in the database
• Dates of examinations are reversed
• Excessive medication doses can be input without any warming to both doctor and patient
• Lack of alert popup for patients with the same name

How long does it take to design a system and run a quality test?

Depending on the size of the project, the time needed to shift from design to application quality control is about 6 to 12 months and not shorter. After which the process of re-designing and upgrading features initiates.

We recommend you take a look at articles and insights published on common mistakes to make sure your product design checks all the points. Once you have settled on a good design, the rest is to make sure the system works as expected. Work with your quality assurance team to ensure the content of each section is clearly encoded and errors aren’t overlooked.

Conclusion

Out of the focus areas, some quality assurance vendors are good at only one thing, so be smart to choose the right partner for you depending on how much you want to outsource. Design thinking and putting end-users at its center requires frequent testing and many rounds of adjustments, so be sure your team is ready. A functioning quality assurance team can spot errors at an early stage, enable secure use, check compatibility between systems, and automate the process.

Testing is an indispensable process before quality products are born and we hope this article helps you get an idea of how to perfect your software quality assurance.