Exploring the Use of Remote Tools in the Operating Room

A mixed-methods study for a medical device company, a client of the User Experience Center (UXC).

Project Summary

Many people do not realize that when they are undergoing an operation, a sales representative from the medical device company is present in the operating room. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, these representatives were often locked out of the OR. Their expertise on medical devices is vital for a successful surgery. In this exploratory study, we worked with a large medical device company to uncover the desire and challenges of using remote tools in the operating room to keep them connected to their customers. We did this in three phases: (1) interviewing project stakeholders to develop more pointed research questions and goals of the study, then using that information to design and analyze (2) quantitative surveys and (3) in-depth interviews for doctors, nurses, hospital administrators and technical support staff. Our client used the findings from our data to enhance their customer support offering around remote case support.

The Challenge

The client came to us with a very intriguing question: is there room in the operating room for remote tools to connect doctors with sales representatives? In this exploratory research study, we wanted to gain a better understanding of experiences and expectations around communication and support in the OR when a rep cannot physically be in the room. This study is under NDA so I can only talk about generalities.

Role and Responsibilities

I acted as a UX researcher on a team of 7. This included 5 Research Associates (including myself) and 2 Senior Consultants. My responsibilities included:

  • Developing stakeholder interview guide along with my colleagues

  • Analyzing results of 5 stakeholder interviews to better understand research goals and develop themes, along with my colleagues

  • Writing summary report of stakeholder interview results

  • Designing quantitative survey for 4 audiences based on stakeholder interview results along with my colleagues

  • Designing in-depth interview guide for 4 audiences based on stakeholder interview results along with my colleagues

  • Developing screening questions for both survey and interview audience along with my colleagues

  • Recruiting participants for both surveys and interviews for 4 audiences along with. my colleagues

  • Observing and notetaking for in-depth interviews

The Process

1. Stakeholder Interviews

We began this study by trying to better understand the research goals and themes of this study. We did this by developing an interview guide for 5 stakeholders from our client side. From the interviews, we got together as a group and conducted a thematic analysis to uncover the themes for our research. We ended up with a rich set of ideas to investigate further using both quantitative surveys and in-depth interviews.

2. Surveys

From the stakeholder interviews, the team developed surveys for 4 audiences using Qualtrics. For this survey, we used best-practices to put together:

  • A welcome message

  • A screener to weed anyone out that is not part of our audience

  • Questions with responses provided as

    • Multiple choice

    • Yes/No

    • Likert scales

    • Matrices

    • Open text

  • Skip logic

  • Blocks for certain audiences

  • End logic once we receive a certain response

To recruit for this survey we used email lists for doctors, nurses, tech support and administration for one specific specialty. We offered participants $15 Amazon gift cards for completing the survey.

3. In-Depth Interviews

Just like with the survey, we used the results from the stakeholder interviews to develop interview guides for our 4 audiences. Since we were already collecting quantitative data through the surveys, we saved the more open ended questions for the interviews. These allowed us not just to understand the “what” - but the “why” behind them. We ended up with 20 total participants that spanned our 4 audiences. We used the survey to recruit some interview participants, Linkedin to recruit others, and professional recruiters to help us with more difficult to find participants.

Outcomes

We amassed a huge amount of data, with over 200 survey responses and 20 in-depth interviews. This data was analyzed to give our client 2 reports: The survey results and the in-depth interview results. This project validated a lot of their internal research regarding remote case support and gave them strategic directives on how best to enhance their customer support offering. This project also resulted in journey maps for the 4 audiences on how to best implement this strategy.

Reflections

Working through designing the surveys was a special kind of challenge but it was well worth it in the end. I learned a lot on how to frame questions, what kind of response styles work best, how to make surveys easy to read, and quick to complete. I’m very lucky that Bill Albert, a pioneer in quantitative UX methodologies, provided guidance on this project as we slogged through iteration after iteration to get this survey just right. Throughout this portion of the project, I realized how much I enjoy this sort of work and look forward to designing many more surveys in the future.