Redesign and Rollout of a User-friendly Collection-Kit Insert

A project for better patient-sample collections and a time-saver for the laboratory staff.

Why This Project?

During my tenure at Histopath Diagnostic Laboratory, I served as a Clinical Microbiology Scientist and already harboured an emerging interest in design. However, I was unaware of the field of UX Design at that point. Unknown to me at the time, my involvement in this particular project became an initial catalyst for my transition into a career in UX Design.

I recognised the necessity for a kit insert that would be more user-friendly and beneficial to both our patients and laboratory staff. I offered to redesign the kit between the months of August and September 2019.

The Initial Kit-Inserts

The two types of kit inserts offered.

These kits would be given or be sent to patients for self-collection then the kits would be brought back or sent back to the laboratory for testing.

The inserts were A4-size papers filled with plain text, folded countless times to fit the size of the kit container. They contained information on kit-content, instructions on how to collect sample and additional important information for the patients.

The two faecal self-collection kits (A & B) exhibited subtle yet significant distinctions, necessitating the use of distinct inserts for each kit type.

The Problem

Overwhelming

The nature of the inserts, A4 paper filled with plain text instructions proved to be overwhelming

...Leading to Mistakes

leading to numerous errors during collection. As a result, staff had to spend additional time contacting patients and arranging for new kits to be sent out for repeat collections. This also caused additional inconvenience for the patients.

Potential Human-error

The two types of kits needed different instructions hence this added an additional potential point of human error where the kit could be packed with the wrong insert.

Strenuous Packaging

The A4 pages had to be individually folded many times to fit the kit and this took up a lot of valuable time from staff and put them at risk of Repetitive-strain-order from folding too much.

The Goal

To reduce errors in collection by designing the kit inserts more intuitive to follow.
To reduce effort and time of packaging by combining both inserts into one.

The Design: From Scratch to Finish

By taking into account user feedback from patients and staff I began the design stage.

How to Overwhelm Less?

I took inspiration from the inserts provided with laboratory tests I worked with on a daily basis. These inserts come with simple illustrations with short instructions for each step. The interpretation of these is intuitive and does not take long to grasp so I thought why not apply the same for the patients during their collections.

One Step at a Time

To begin ideating how I would make the kit insert more visual to the user I extracted the main points and steps from the text-heavy A4 sheets and introduced some images to make the instructions quicker to grasp.

Sketches & Paper Prototypes

I stapled sheets of paper into a booklet to visualise the size of the booklet I could make for the kit. This helped me understand how much space I would have to include all necessary information from the original insert and for the illustrations I would be drawing later on.

Simple Step-by-Step Illustrations

I then used photoshop to draw the illustrations for each step of the collection process. I was focusing on the main steps from the insert but also tried to emphasise common errors that occurred during collection, such as using the wrong scoop for the wrong jars or forgetting to include the doctor`s request form when returning the kit.

UX Writing & Sizing

Once I was satisfied with the drawings, I worked on the writing of the steps. I made sure they were concise and used simple language to avoid confusion.

I also checked the sizing of the illustrations and text, making sure it fit the kit tub.

Colours & Images

To make the rest of the booklet I used the company branding colours of blue, red and white alongside their existing logo.

Every prototype iteration took into account the valuable user-feedback provided by staff members from various departments at Histopath.

A high-fidelity paper prototype of the final design helped to check the readability and size of the booklet while also served to collect internal feedback and the final approval from the management and the CEO.

The Final Kit Insert Perks

Small digestible sections with illustrators to provide visual aid in understanding the steps of the collection.

Contains all necessary information for checking kit content, steps for collecting, safety information, and checklist for sending back kit to lab.

One booklet for both kits. No chance in mistakenly providing the wrong insert for the wrong kit.

Packing-staff no longer needs to repeatedly fold inserts for the kits. Inserts delivered in bulk and ready to be added to kits.

How to measure the success?

As I was leaving the company and was relocating to complete a Master's in Switzerland, I was not able to follow up on the results after launch.

However, 3.5 years later I have the opportunity to gather feedback:

Survey

Include a short paper survey and/or QR code to an online survey with the kit to receive feedback from patients on their experience with the insert and following the instructions.

Testimonials

Gather testimonials and quotes from patients, admin staff and lab staff regarding the experience with the kit.

Error rates

Monitor the error rates of collection over time to quantify the impact of the new kit insert.

Histopath has been giving these kit inserts to their patients for 3.5 years.

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