Make Sure Your Healthcare Tech is Valuable to the End User

This article was originally published on our website here on 8/14/23.

How do you ensure that your healthcare tech is valuable, accessible and user-friendly?

You can’t ignore the value of understanding your?end users?when it comes to ensuring that you healthcare tech is valuable.?Figuring out what frustrates them or how your tool fits into their workflows is crucial.?A cool piece of technology may not necessarily fit into a clinical context, leading to?resistance?from clinicians.?

Your tech might seem attractive but if it’s targeted at the wrong demographic or niche, its usage could be limited.?The other reason for failure? Lack of beta testing by actual boots on the ground clinicians! ? ?

Having people who are seeing patients every day test your software/device gives you invaluable feedback about features that need to be added/removed/improved upon.?An insignificant functionality detail in your eyes as a developer/engineer could make all the difference in a clinical care setting!

The big takeaway:“Identify target market, find people working in that space, get them to test product, gather feedback, & incorporate changes = A SUCCESSFUL PRODUCT.”?

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Understanding the User: Making Sure your Healthcare Tech is Valuable

The key to ensuring that your healthcare technology, be it a software,?platform?or device, is accessible and user-friendly lies in understanding who the end user actually is. This does not only aid you in crafting your?value proposition?but also helps you understand what frustrates them.

The specific issues they encounter whether workflow related or a step in any given sequence provide crucial insights into how your tool can solve their problems. It’s essential to comprehend how your tool fits into their current workflows. I often engage with individuals who have created fascinating tools or technologies with clear applications. However, when these are introduced into clinical spaces, they tend to fail because either they do not fit within individual clinicians’ niches or specialties, or simply because the demographic was wrongly identified.

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Pitfalls of Non-Beta-Tested Technologies

A common mistake made by developers is failing to beta test their products with actual users on the ground people who interact with patients daily. While it’s valuable to have insights from clinicians aware of general trends and global perspectives (like those knowledgeable about outpatient physical therapy, as an example), without feedback from those actively using your product in real-world scenarios every day – testing that software, device or tool – you’ll never truly know which features need improvement.

Sometimes even seemingly insignificant functionalities might hold significant importance for a clinician due to its application within the?context of patient care. Without this critical input from frontline workers interacting directly with patients daily, theres a risk that certain aspects may go overlooked during development stages leading ultimately towards ineffective solutions

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Beta Test: The Key To Success

My ultimate advice? Beta test! Once you’ve identified your?target market?get people working in that space involved at an early stage; not just high-level consultants providing broad generalisations but individuals at grassroots level dealing directly with patients every day.

This approach allows for comprehensive testing of all aspects of functionality whilst simultaneously allowing for invaluable first-hand feedback regarding usability and efficiency improvements required prior implementing wider roll-out strategies where potential pitfalls become far more costly both financially and reputationally speaking

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Have you?relied on beta testing, and feedback for development?