UBC Pharmacists Clinic
Designing services and interfaces to support patient-centered care.
Overview
CLIENT
OUTPUTS
Appointment Booking Process
Appointment Booking Portal
Patient Communication (Graphics, UX Writing)
Billing Process
Website
ROLE
Service Designer and UX Lead
TIMEFRAME
3 months
Context
The UBC Pharmacists Clinic is a university-affiliated, pharmacist-led clinic. Unlike traditional pharmacies, pharmacist-led clinics dispense information instead of drugs. They help patients better understand, manage, and sometimes reduce their medications.
In 2023, a provincial initiative enabled pharmacists in British Columbia to prescribe medications for 21 minor ailments and contraceptives (MACs). For the clinic, this meant rethinking workflows across every level: how patients accessed care, how intake data was collected, how clinicians documented and billed, and how staff coordinated across systems. All of this had to happen without disrupting care for existing patients.
Problem
A new provincial policy allowed pharmacists to treat minor ailments and contraceptives (MAC), but the clinic had no infrastructure for:
Booking
How patients book appts for MAC services
Billing
How the clinic bills the government for MAC services
Admin Workflow
How the clinicians and office assistants work together to treat more patients
Patient Communication
How patients discover the new service offering
Objectives
- Integrate MAC services into existing workflows
- Avoid disrupting care for current patients
- Build for scale across all 21 eligible ailments
Solutions
Booking Portal
Service Redesign
Website + Graphics
Process
I facilitated a meeting with the leadership team, where we defined the requirements for integrating the new MAC services. This meant determining:
- Channels of care: which ailments required in-person vs virtual care.
- Patient data collected: what patient data needed to be collected for charts and government billing.
- New booking system: how the booking logic would need to distinguish between MAC and existing appointment types.
Mapping the current state
Using journey maps and service blueprints, I quickly documented both the patient experience and admin/clinical processes to understand how patients, staff, and clinicians interact.
The goal of this was to gain a deep understanding of current operational processes and build alignment with the clinical leadership team.
Identifying friction points
Additionally, the maps helped pinpoint where the new MAC services would create friction within existing processes.
Initial Pilot Plan
The MAC services was piloted by initially offering appointments one day a week, with one available clinician, supporting a subset of 10 out of the 21 eligible minor ailments.
Over the first two months, several improvements were made to the service. Training sessions and regular clinical staff meetings helped build clinician confidence in assessing minor ailments, and the service grew from having a single dedicated clinician to all clinical staff being available for MAC appointments. By the two-month mark, the clinic was able to expand to the full 21 minor ailments.
My Roles
Pilot Lead: I acted as the primary point of coordination between the clinical team and developers, ensuring clear communication across both sides throughout the pilot.
Patient Advocate: In technical discussions, I advocated for patient needs while also communicating system constraints and implementation considerations back to clinic staff.
Service Decision-Making: I led decision-making around service updates and workflow changes, ensuring feedback from the clinic was translated into actionable, human-centred improvements.
Impact
Patients treated during the pilot period
Appointments completed per month
From pilot to full adoption
Services Expanded
The MAC service expanded beyond the initial 10-ailment pilot to support the full range of eligible conditions.
Uninterrupted Care
New services were integrated without disrupting care for existing patients.
Staff Workload Improved
Online booking adoption reduced inbound phone calls, lightening the administrative load on the medical office assistants.
Website Improvements
While integrating the MAC services, I identified gaps in how the clinic communicated with patients, specifically around how patients found information and prepared for visits.
After piloting MACs, I began redesigning the clinic's website and created a dedicated patient information section, including suggested questions to ask the care team and a resource for downloading personal prescription history. Both remain live on the clinic's website.
