Scope
Accessibility Design
UX Research
UI Design
See Together
October 2021
Redesigning the existing Veterinary consultation system of India.
The Drive
Pets are close to their owners and as the owners, they would do absolutely everything in the world for them. But when it comes to pet care, it is questionable whether the pet owner is satisfied with the existing medical services of their area, and if not, what are the issues and how can we solve them?
Problem Statement
Focusing on the challenges faced by pet owners, it was noticed that, it is a long and tedious process for a pet owner to bring their pet into a veterinary clinic. Their pet gets excited about seeing other pets and it becomes difficult to manage them. So how can a pet owner get over this situation?
This project focuses on improving the veterinary clinic experiences of both pets and their owners
Plan of Action
1
-
Research Study of the existing system
-
Site Visit
-
Documentation
-
User flow
2
-
User Interview of Pet Owners and Doctors
-
User Journey Map
-
User empathy map
-
User Persona
3
-
Identification of need
-
Reworked Problem statement
-
Potential Goals
-
Ideal System Study
4
-
Ideations
-
Wireframes
-
Generating Prototype
Secondary Research
Level 1 : Veterinary dispensary
Level 2 : Veterinary Hospital
Level 3 : Veterinary Polyclinic
Level 4 : District Veterinary Centre
Hierarchy of Veterinary hospitals in India
No of
Chief Vet.Officer
Senior Surgeon
Surgeon
Inspector
Lab Technician
Attender
Sweeper
0 0 1 1 0 1 1
0 1 1 1 0 1 1
0 1 2 1 1 3 1
1 1 2 1 >1 >3 >1
Timings of Veterinary clinics above level 2
SHIFT 1 : 8 AM -2 PM
SHIFT 2 : 2 PM - 8 PM
SHIFT 3 : 8 PM - 8 AM
(Morning Shift)
Most active time
(Evening Shift)
Active time
(Night Shift)
Least active time
Ambulance services and Modern diagnostic techniques like scanning are available in district veterinary centres only. There is atleast one Government Veterinary service in every panchayat across India.
*Graphical representation only
*Graphical representation only
Panchayats/ Rural Areas
Muncipality / Township
In Panchayat Veterinary hospital, the number of cases of livestock is more than pets, therefore the doctors usually have to visit where the animal lives. There is a very little crowd at the hospital and most of the visitors are farmers. People may not benefit much from pre-booking as they may not be updated with technology.
So, in this project, We have considered levels 3 & 4 of veterinary hospitals only and this redesign can be extended to other tiers in the future.
Types of Users in a typical Veterinary clinic
1.Hospital
Staff
-
Doctors
-
Attenders
-
Receptionist
-
Dispensary Staff
-
Helpers/ Sweepers
2.Pet
Owners
-
People who bring a pet
-
People who don't
bring a pet
-
For Consultancy
-
For Medicine
-
Emergency
-
Vaccination
-
Others
Primary Research
Pet Owners Interview results.
Type of clinic
Do pet owners wait for hours ?
Does pets get aggressive/excited at the clinic?
Consultation method
Are pet owners aware of microchipping?
How are vaccination records stored?
How many did microchipping?
Key points from Interview
-
It was noted that vaccination requires very little time compared to emergency cases and other consultancies.
-
Doctors work for more than the time slot allotted to them.
-
They don't give priority/specialize in any animal
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Doctors get continuous inquiries and requests for guidance through phone calls
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Their breaks(lunch) are never at the same time even though they have an allotted hour(1-2 pm), it will be rushed as patients are waiting.
Empathy Map
User Persona
User Journey Map
Ideations
Prototype
Existing User Flow
Insights from current system
-
The system does not differentiate different types of users, It puts everyone in a single column and expects to function smoothly
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There is no room for online services
-
The Equitable factor of the system is questionable
Design of Ideal Consultation System
Types of Users in Ideal consultation system
The type of users arriving at a veterinary is categorized into mainly four cases. Each case is explored in detail with the help of the user journey and the overall construction of space, so as the system functions properly. Apart from these four categories, there are a few more cases that are explored later in the study.
1
In order to minimize the human-animal interaction, the people who come to the hospital just to buy medicines and are not accompanied by their pets are considered separate cases. And in order to execute this plan, the dispensary is constructed in such a way that it can be accessed from both inside and outside. And the users belonging to this case can get the medicine without even entering the hospital, thus reducing the overall rush at hospital, also minimizing human-animal interaction.
2
3
The vaccination area and consultation area are separated, unlike the current system where both of these take place at the same place. The user enters through the gateway entrance and they are welcomed by five separate seats which are separated by a wall to provide sufficient privacy to the user and it also doubles up as a method to reduce the animal - animal interaction, thus the animal excitation is out of the equation.
The users can see a token displaying screens in front of them, and they can move towards the vaccination or consultation rooms according to their token number.
4
Emergency cases are considered separate due to their severity. These cases can directly bypass the system and get a consultation from doctors. If in case the user cannot come to the hospital, there is a provision where the doctor could reach out to the user. To cater to this an ambulance service is specifically provided.
5
Though the system has integrated online methods it still does not neglect the offline users, who are not able to use the online services. These users are treated separately and their user flow is as shown above.
It is also important to mention how reception work in this system. Here they treat online and offline users as separate users. The proper syncing of both online and offline users happens here. More experienced workers are required to run the reception so the lag factor is minimum.
The hospital works 24/7 thus Night shift is also unavoidable. But here the facilities are minimal but still, emergency cases can be treated during this period.
The App
Since the new system relies on online facilities, it is important to introduce an app to cater to this. Thus "Vet Book".
The app not only takes care of the system but also doubles as a guide to store pet details and helps the user with the process of microchipping. The app allows the user to book doctor appointments at different hospitals and it also shows the real-time status of the user token and the estimated time of their consultation.