MerlinMap Project
MerlinMap Medication Management System
MerlinMap is a medications management solution, developed using the latest web-enabled technologies. MerlinMap empowers pharmacies by providing a modern responsive design that provides easy access to numerous modules including Dispense, Prescribe, Oncology, Clinical and Script Tracker.
Problem
The pharmacy industry frequently uses clunky, old software solutions that require higher expenses to train staff, which introduces clinical risks too, instead of investing in a more intuitive and complete software.
Pharmacies were spending significant time training staff to use Merlin, a command line medication management system.
Users desired a more clean, modern and responsive interface that also introduced new modules, whilst still integrated the legacy Merlin data.
My Involvement
User Research
Wireframing & Prototyping
User Testing
Front-End Development
My Design Solution Approach
First I observed and interviewed pharmacists and documented workflows of their processes, requirements, pain points and distractions.
Based on my findings and research, I proposed several low-fidelity and interactive high-fidelity design solutions and shared them with stakeholders. I also led the user testing sessions and analysis of the outcome to improve the proposed design solutions.
I helped develop the new interface as a front-end developer. We iterated through the design process to ensure that the new proposed design solutions were a joy to use.
User Research Process
Field study and user shadowing technique: Gained an in-depth understanding of how pharmacists use Merlin. Observed them trying to manage interruptions to their workflow whilst they were completing a module and understood the processes that they had to follow to continue where they left off.
Interviews: I performed interviews with pharmacists to understand their expectations, workflows and record-keeping requirements.
Example: An example where I performed the user shadowing technique was to develop a modern and readable task list of patients to dispense medications to.
Analyse and Brainstorming Process
In this phase, I analysed the research results and summarised the problems found in the previous stage of the project. I grouped the related issues and sorted them based on their priorities and prepared a detailed report.
I then organised ideation workshops with the team to discuss potential solutions to overcome the pain points and problems discovered. As a result, I gathered wide ranging perspectives which I considered when I proposed the design solutions.
Prototyping Process
In this phase, I first started creating flow charts and wireframes. I then created interactive high-fidelity prototypes based on the ideation outcomes (Figma & GIMP). During each sprint, after performing user testing and applying the required changes to the proposed solutions.
Implementation Process
I documented a scope of work to handover to developers and undertook front-end development of MerlinMap (Angular, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Bootstrap).
Result
- MerlinMap provides a clean, modern ad responsive user interface that allows access on any PC, Mac, iOS or android device.
- The simplicity of the processes and interface significantly reduced training time for new staff, which resulted in clients saving ongoing cost and time.
- MerlinMap helped pharmacists reduce risk by allowing them to easily pick-up where they left off in a workflow.
- Pharmhos Software received lots of positive feedback from existing clients after creating a modern UI and integrating new modules that supported the legacy Merlin platform.
