Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation: EMR Smartphrase Tool
Project Description
The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation has a wealth of information about living with and managing symptoms of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The new EMR (electronic medical record) Content Search webpage provides a way for health care providers to easily search, access, and transfer relevant educational materials to patients living with these diseases.
View the tool here.
Project Details
Client
Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation
Skills
Strategy, UX Design, Technology
Challenge
- Create a new library search tool for health care providers on the Foundation website, allowing providers to find specific disease-related information that can easily be copied to their local electronic medical record (EMR) tool. Make sure the search tool is easy to find on the Foundation’s site.
- Also provide educational materials on the page for providers who may not be comfortable or familiar with information being transferred between the Foundation’s site and their local EMR data interface. Allow providers to give feedback and request additional information on certain disease-related topics or request new kinds of EMR tools be added to the educational materials.
- Easy database upkeep was crucial. Partners within the Foundation needed to be able to make meaningful updates to the information already present or create additional search topics or entries, so the tool can remain current and useful to health care providers.
Approach
- Worked with the Foundation to determine different user search methods: user starts with a general idea of the topic in mind or has a specific topic keyword to learn more about. All possible results were to be visible on the page (many hidden under a “view more” function), so the user can see what is available. The user was to be able to make their search as surface-level or nuanced as they wanted.
- Developed a simple way to receive and check feedback from users.
- Implemented tracking to learn which search terms are most popular for further expansion on said topics and which way of searching is most popular (category or topic vs. keyword).
Outcome
- The EMR Content Search was placed under the “Programs and Materials” navigation area of the site. The interface is simple and intuitive, only becoming more involved, with check boxes appearing, if the health care provider chooses to expand the filter functions. The results update live as the provider narrows down their search query. If no results are available, language directing them to make a suggestion is visible.
- An updating sidebar makes it easy for health care providers to see which other pages are involved with the EMR Content Search and may be helpful, including links for learning how to copy the content the provider needs and for suggesting a topic or new EMR tool. Suggestions are emailed to a Foundation resource.
- The database backend was developed to make it easy for the Foundation’s partners to manage with limited web development knowledge. It was integrated with their current database system, and tracking is maintained through Google Analytics.