hope akello

UBC Pharmacists Clinic

Designing services and interfaces to support patient-centered care.

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Overview

CLIENT

The UBC Pharmacists Clinic

ROLE

Service Designer and UX Lead; I facilitated stakeholder engagement, led the research and prototyping process, and supported the clinic through technology integration.

PROBLEMS

The clinic’s digital tools were not fully aligned with the evolving needs of pharmacists or the range of services offered, leading to workarounds and added administrative load.

SOLUTIONS

A suite of digital tools and service improvements to reduce administrative workload, improve communication, and enhance the overall patient care experience.

Projects

The UBC Pharmacists Clinic is a university-affiliated, pharmacist-led patient care clinic. At the Clinic, the clinicians use their specialized knowledge in medication to support the care of medically complex patients.

As Healthcare Service Designer for the clinic, I worked to improve the clinical processes and patient experience by integrating new technologies and streamlining digital interactions. I led the service and UX design processes, collaborating closely with clinicians, administrators, and external stakeholders to deliver solutions. My contributions spanned research, design, implementation, and mentorship, resulting in a more efficient and user-friendly experience for patients and staff alike. Below is a snapshot of a few projects I worked on.

Context

In 2023, a new provincial initiative allowed pharmacists in British Columbia to prescribe medications for 21 minor ailments and contraceptives. In response, the clinic needed to update its appointment booking process to include Minor Ailment and Contraceptive (MAC) appointments.

Objective

Enable patients to book MAC appointments online and indicate which of the 21 minor ailments or contraceptives they require.

Approach

Collaborated with clinicians to determine which appointments should be offered in-person versus online, and mapped the patient journey.


Developed a user flow of the online booking process, identifying pain points and opportunities for improvement, such as clarifying the clinic’s service offerings.


Designed wireframes of potential booking screens and worked with the front desk team to refine language and ensure clarity.


Prepared design handoff for developers.


Outcomes

Implemented a streamlined online booking process that enabled patients to specify their reason for appointment. This reduced administrative workload, with the clinic reporting a 25–30% decrease in front desk scheduling tasks in the first quarter.

Context

OSCAR is an open-source electronic medical records (EMR) system. At the UBC Pharmacists Clinic, staff used it daily but found many interface elements inefficient, cluttered, and unintuitive. This project focused on proposing small yet meaningful UX/UI improvements to better support their clinical workflow.

Objective

Enhance the clinic’s EMR UI so clinicians can practice to their full scope and deliver optimal care for medically complex patients.

Approach

Shadowed and interviewed clinicians using OSCAR during appointments, noting mis-clicks, navigation issues, and unclear fields.


Mapped pain points and ideated solutions.


Created rationales and mock-ups for developers, and tested prototypes with clinicians before finalizing.


Prepared the design handoff and met with developers to review documentation.


Acted as a bridge between clinicians and developers; advocated for clinician needs while also communicating technical constraints clearly.


Outcomes

Implemented EMR UI improvements based on mock-ups and a recommendations document. Clinicians reported fewer issues after implementation, streamlining workflows and enabling them to spend more time on patient care.


Context

The clinic requires EMR UI improvements because OSCAR was designed to primarily meet the needs of physicians, whose workflow needs differ from pharmacists. Pharmacists/clinicians are experts in how medications work for people, including their dosages, side effects, and interactions with other medications. Identifying, resolving, and preventing drug therapy problems (DTPs) are the distinctive contributions of clinicians. A DTP is any undesirable event experienced by a patient that involves or is suspected to involve drug therapy. These problems can manifest in a variety of forms and develop when the use or non-use of certain medications result in the less-than-optimal clinical outcomes for a patient. Several factors contribute to the development of a DTP, making it a complex issue within the healthcare system.

Objective

Design a digital tool that enables the clinicians to efficiently track and manage DTPs as they emerge in patient care.

Approach

Outcomes