Pediatric Critical Care: Connecting Providers with Emergency Resources
- Health
Child Health BC (CHBC) is a Health Improvement Network that facilitates collaboration between provincial experts, regional leaders, and community and patient partners. They focus on improving the experience and delivery of health services for children and youth across BC, and are accountable to the Provincial Health Services Authority.
Pediatric Critical Care (PCC) is an outreach, education, and follow-up initiative launched by CHBC and the BC Children’s Hospital Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) that specifically focuses on the delivery of comprehensive and accessible critical care.
the challenge
Optimizing quick resource access
The Pediatric Critical Care team is committed to developing comprehensive provincial supports, regardless of where in the province a patient needs care. An important part of this strategy is ensuring that providers anywhere in the province can find specific treatment guidelines and procedures the moment they need them. The existing site did not meet the needs of the healthcare team, especially for emergency situations, when having access to lifesaving resources is vital.
Client
- Provincial Health Services Authority
Sector
- Health
Service
- Design
- User Experience
- Development
- Strategy
Technology
- Drupal
the solution
Data-driven user experience
We needed an online hub where resources could be surfaced in an intuitive, quick-access format and details would display efficiently on a variety of devices. Starting with the categorization of information, collaboration with subject matter experts was essential to building a strong foundation for the site.
We researched how providers look for critical information in a patient emergency and developed a series of user tests for insight into the optimal categorization. Testers (doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals) were given several search scenarios and using a simple navigation system, they demonstrated where they would expect to find specific information. This process, known as tree testing, is a great way to confirm if a system of categorization is effective or if users might have different expectations of where resources should be located.
Quick and easy access
With the insights gleaned from user testing and further collaboration with the PCC team, we developed a specific section of the website for “In a Hurry” resources: summary pages, videos, documents, and links to outside sources. A unique menu for this part of the website provides quick links to specific categories. Colour coding and icons for each category help users recognize familiar content when revisiting the site, and collapsible sections allow users to focus on one step at a time.
This quick-access section, along with access to educational course content, resources to browse, and news and events, all set a strong foundation for the Pediatric Critical Care project to evolve and grow over time.
