BayCare Health System
Mapping the Global Health System Web Navigation
BayCare.org, the primary end user experience, needed a more powerful and modern navigation experience to drive prospective and existing patients, as well as care partners, to their care needs..
PROJECT GOAL
Provide a mobile, tablet, and desktop-friendly navigation experience that connects BayCare prospective and existing patients to physicians, locations, classes and events, and additional content.
ROLE
My role was researcher and designer, considering the overall care needs of patients and care partners, along with business stakeholders’ strategic goals from a system and individual hospital/clinic perspective.
The Original Design
The horizontal main menu bar lacked prioritization based on user traffic patterns and needs, and created paths of confusion. between hospitals versus locations. Additionally, multiple items received low traffic, despite prominence. Users would often scroll to cards/action buttons rather than click on the menu bar.
Challenges in Navigating a Health System
We analyzed approaches that included double-navigation bars, hidden navigation bars, and even those that displayed contextually based on where the user was located within the site architecture.
Our goal was to ensure users didn’t get lost nor did they forget the brand experience, especially within the hospital level. The challenge was a collection of brands (hospitals) vs a unified brand with multiple locations (BayCare as a system with special brands).
Additionally, we experimented with chatbot features to help with modern navigation patterns of emerging AI and conversational UX.
Navigation, Evolving
The final delivery came after my time at BayCare, but the implementation has simplified the experience for end users. Items such as Scheduling have been bulk organized, and clearer terminology for patients has been prioritized.
Additionally, the log in experience for those with accounts has been elevated for easy access.