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Overview

Research

Design

Impact

Medflow Systems

Unifying a Clinical Workflow System for Hospitals

Unifying a Clinical Workflow System for Hospitals

Medflow Systems — clinical workflow dashboard showing patient data and nurse documentation interface
Medflow Systems — clinical workflow dashboard showing patient data and nurse documentation interface

Role:

Senior UX Designer

Team size:

8 people

Timeline:

11 months

Core tools:

Figma, Dovetail, FullStory, Jira

Overview

The problem

Clinical staff at three hospitals were navigating 11 separate tools for a single patient handover — spending up to 40% of each shift on documentation, with 200+ IT support tickets raised every month.

The solution

One adaptive dashboard with role-based views for nurses, doctors, and administrators. A 120-component design system built from scratch. Staff could complete a full handover in under 4 minutes.

Key outcomes

38%

Less time on documentation per shift at Medflow

62%

Fewer IT support tickets in the 3 months post-launch

4.6/5

Staff satisfaction score after rollout

38%

Less time on documentation per shift at Medflow

62%

Fewer IT support tickets in the 3 months post-launch

4.6/5

Staff satisfaction score after rollout

Research & discovery

Understanding the problem space

Contextual inquiry sessions were run across three hospital sites with 28 nurses, 14 doctors, and 6 ward administrators. We mapped every touchpoint in the patient handover process and identified 34 distinct friction points. Severity was ranked with clinical leads to prioritise which to solve first.

Contextual inquiry sessions were run across three hospital sites with 28 nurses, 14 doctors, and 6 ward administrators. We mapped every touchpoint in the patient handover process and identified 34 distinct friction points. Severity was ranked with clinical leads to prioritise which to solve first.

Design team collaborating on a whiteboard during a product workshop
Design team collaborating on a whiteboard during a product workshop

User interviews

Contextual inquiry sessions were run across three hospital sites with 28 nurses, 14 doctors, and 6 ward administrators. We mapped every touchpoint in the patient handover process and identified 34 distinct friction points. Severity was ranked with clinical leads to prioritise which to solve first.

User interview session documentation
User interview session documentation

Contextual inquiry sessions were run across three hospital sites with 28 nurses, 14 doctors, and 6 ward administrators. We mapped every touchpoint in the patient handover process and identified 34 distinct friction points. Severity was ranked with clinical leads to prioritise which to solve first.

Key findings

Shadowing front-line medical staff revealed 34 distinct friction points across the shift handover flow. Error rates spiked during manual data entry, and a vast majority of nurses felt the system actively slowed them down.

Multiple tools used

On average, staff switched between 9 different legacy systems to complete a single patient handover, drastically increasing cognitive load.

70% felt slowed down

7 in 10 nurses reported that the existing UI actively got in the way of patient care, particularly during high-pressure shift changes and emergencies.

High manual error risk

Because vitals had to be manually re-typed from physical monitors into the database, transcription errors accounted for the majority of data discrepancies.

Multiple tools used

On average, staff switched between 9 different legacy systems to complete a single patient handover, drastically increasing cognitive load.

70% felt slowed down

7 in 10 nurses reported that the existing UI actively got in the way of patient care, particularly during high-pressure shift changes and emergencies.

High manual error risk

Because vitals had to be manually re-typed from physical monitors into the database, transcription errors accounted for the majority of data discrepancies.

Design process

Creating lofi designs

We sketched 12 concepts across three directions — unified timeline, role-based dashboards, and a structured handover form. Role-based dashboards tested strongest in paper prototype sessions.

Low-fidelity wireframes and sketches from the design exploration phase
Low-fidelity wireframes and sketches from the design exploration phase

Design solutions

Medflow Systems — clinical workflow dashboard showing patient data and nurse documentation interface
Medflow Systems — clinical workflow dashboard showing patient data and nurse documentation interface
Medflow Systems — clinical workflow dashboard showing patient data and nurse documentation interface
Medflow Systems — clinical workflow dashboard showing patient data and nurse documentation interface
Medflow Systems — clinical workflow dashboard showing patient data and nurse documentation interface
Medflow Systems — clinical workflow dashboard showing patient data and nurse documentation interface

Impact

Key outcomes

£150K

Estimated annual saving in staff overtime from reduced admin burden

38%

Reduction in time nurses spent on documentation per shift

62%

Drop in IT support tickets in the 3 months after launch

38%

Less time on documentation per shift at Medflow

62%

Fewer IT support tickets in the 3 months post-launch

4.6/5

Staff satisfaction score after rollout

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