Radiology Scheduling Experience
Building a digital resource hub for schedules to reduce training time, minimize errors, and improve daily operations, and ultimately enhancing patient interactions.
Client
UC Health in Collaboration with GE Healthcare
Role
UX Design Fellow, Researcher, & UX/UI Design Lead
Tools
Figma
Skills
​Qualitative Research · User Testing · Iterative Design · User Interviews · Information Architecture · Data Visualization · Wireframing · Prototyping · Leadership · Project Management · Customer Collaboration & Communication · Design Thinking · Research Synthesis · Presenting
BACKGROUND
Problem Space
Scheduling is the first step in a patient’s radiology journey and sets the tone for their entire experience.
How can we optimize the scheduling workflow to better support patients, minimize delays, eliminate errors, and ultimately enhance the overall patient experience?
RESEARCH
Research Objectives
01
Conduct interviews with all stakeholders in the scheduling process
02
Understand the current scheduling ecosystem and working flow
03
Understand the scheduling pain points
RESEARCH
Stakeholder Interviews
A total of 19 stakeholders—including schedulers, patients, technologists, and radiologists—were interviewed in 30–45 minute sessions focused on understanding the radiology scheduling patient experience.
RESEARCH
Scheduler Shadowing
RESEARCH
Patient & Scheduler Journey Map
FINDINGS
Key Roadblock Findings
IDEATION
Technologist & Scheduler Empathy
Co-Creation Workshop
The Live Well team led a 2-hour co-creation workshop with technologists and schedulers to uncover challenges in the central scheduling system and explore empathy-driven solutions. Although these teams communicate daily, they often lack insight into each other's roles. Each group first mapped their own challenges, then exchanged them to ideate solutions from the other team’s perspective.
​
Workshop activities included:
-
Analyzing what works and what doesn’t in the current scheduling process
-
Defining key challenges and ideal outcomes
-
Brainstorming solutions
-
Mapping solutions on a feasibility matrix
IDEATION
Workshop Results
After comparing experiences, both techs and schedulers identified education as a key challenge—especially for new hires facing a steep learning curve with radiology and Epic. Long-time schedulers relied on years of accumulated knowledge, while new team members often required weeks or months of training before handling calls independently. The activity fostered empathy among techs for the complexity schedulers manage, and both groups aligned on an ideal future state. From there, the team prioritized solutions by feasibility and impact, ultimately selecting a streamlined “Radiology 101” education tool as the most effective path forward.
REFINEMENT
Deliverables
The Radiology 101 Kit was developed by gathering existing training materials along with informal resources schedulers had created themselves. Content was reorganized to be clearer and easier to navigate, enabling schedulers to quickly find information during calls, reduce the learning curve, and deliver more consistent, empathetic patient experiences.
The kit included three core deliverables:
-
Web Hub – Designed for younger schedulers who preferred digital access, this hub allowed them to bookmark and quickly reference materials while working.
-
Printable Guide – Created for schedulers who preferred physical materials they could post or keep at their desks.
-
Alphabetized Scheduling Dictionary – Developed in response to feedback that schedulers often struggled with unfamiliar terms and relied on personal searches, this official dictionary provides a reliable, time-saving reference to support onboarding and daily use.
REFINEMENT
Digital Hub
RESULTS
Preformance Metrics
A password-protected site was shared via email with a control group of 35 scheduling stakeholders. Within the first two weeks, 30 out of 35 users (86%) accessed the site. Over the two-month observation period, 23 of those 30 users returned to the site at least once — a 77% return rate among initial visitors and a 66% return rate across the total control group.
