The Hidden Cost of Poor UX in Healthcare

In 1985, a radiation therapy machine called the Therac-25 was introduced, it was introduced as a leap forward in cancer treatment. For patients, it promised hope—more precise, targeted radiation therapy with fewer side effects. But for some, it became a nightmare.

During what should have been a routine session, the machine malfunctioned and delivered 100 times the intended radiation dose. The patient’s pain was immediate and the damage irreversible. An error code—“Malfunction 54”—blinked on the screen. It offered no explanation, no guidance, and no way for the technician to understand or resolve the issue.

Between 1985 and 1987, the Therac-25 was responsible for six deaths and left many others with life-altering injuries. 

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This wasn’t a hardware failure. It was a design failure. What went wrong?

The Therac-25’s user interface was cryptic and uninformative, leaving operators in the dark. Unlike its predecessors, which relied on physical failsafes, the Therac-25 leaned heavily on software safeguards. Moreover, the software was poorly written, inadequately tested, and riddled with bugs. The lack of real-world testing only compounded the problem.

The Stakes of Medical UX

Medical UX isn’t just about making systems easier to use—it’s about designing to prevent critical, potentially life-threatening mistakes. While good UX is important in any industry, the stakes in medicine are uniquely high. An unclear error message can mean the difference between life and death.

Medical UX extends beyond the screen. It encompasses every touchpoint in the patient and clinician experience—from how medical records are documented to the layout of controls on a CT scanner.

The Therac-25 disaster remains a reminder that poor design costs lives. It underlines the need for robust testing, intuitive interfaces, and focus on user safety. Because in the world of medical UX, there are no second chances.

Modern day systems are far more advanced and complex than the Therac-25. The technology has advanced, but it has introduced new complexities.

Modern Day complexities: EHR
Modern systems like Electronic Health Records (EHR) were designed to solve critical problems in patient care—streamlining workflows, reducing paperwork, and centralizing information.  Yet, for many clinicians, these systems have introduced new challenges.

In a study conducted by Stanford University in 2018, It was reported that 50% of physicians think the EHR needs an overhaul. Why? Cluttered interfaces, reliance on manual data entry, and poor navigation often obstruct rather than assist. Imagine a doctor in a packed emergency room, racing against the clock to find a patient’s medication history, only to be delayed by poorly organized menus or buried under options.

Though these situations feel minor at first glance, these have a major impact on a patient’s life. In an emergency, these seconds wasted on the interface might be the cost of someone's life.

The EHR issue isn’t as straightforward as one might think. Several factors have contributed to what the system is today.

Market Dynamics: The EHR market is dominated by a few vendors, which reduces competition and ultimately innovation. There is also a high cost involved with switching to another EHR system, which further locks in healthcare organizations. 

Outdated systems: Many EHRs have been developed around the 1990s and 2000s. Although these systems have been updated. The architecture wasn't designed for modern needs.

Compliance:  EHR vendors must constantly update their systems to meet new regulations, as prescribed by bodies such as HIPAA, HITECH, and Meaningful Use. This might be necessary to maintain patient privacy and safety, but sometimes it may come at the cost of functionality.

Broader challenges
The challenges don’t stop at EHRs. Diagnostic tools like CT and MRI scans come with intricate controls and extensive training, which makes it challenging even to experienced professionals.
On the patient’s side, patient portals and at-home monitoring tools can often confuse patients with technical language and unintuitive designs.

Industrial design also plays a huge role in the emotional response to a product. A product that feels approachable and aesthetically pleasing can help reduce the feeling of anxiety while using the product (like the Phillips & Disney MRI scanner for kids below) . On the other hand, a more clinical-looking device could invoke some kind of fear associated with medical tools.

To address these challenges health care designers must adopt a human centered approach. This means involving healthcare professionals in the design process, testing the prototypes in real world scenarios and prioritizing crucial information.

Some key points designers should keep in mind while designing:

• Designers can conduct extensive shadowing across different departments to understand workflow patterns. Observing how doctors work around current challenges can also provide good insights.
• Testing prototypes alongside clinicians with varying degrees of expertise. This can provide data into how to design for all levels of expertise. 
• Understand visual hierarchy and prioritize what information is important in different scenarios. This could aid in effective information retrieval patterns.
• Try to reduce redundancies in the system. For example, having to input the same data more than once might increase the chances of error and might potentially affect the patient’s health

The challenges for designing are complex and multifaceted. While the above can be good guidelines to follow, they become hard to apply in high stakes real world environments.

Designers in this industry will always be plagued with questions on how to solve for these complex situations. Even designing the methodology to conduct research can be a hard one to crack.The future of healthcare UX lies in creating systems that are not just functional, but also intuitive. By embracing emerging technologies we can empower accurate decision making and ensure patient safety. The goal is clear: to build systems that prioritize human safety and experience, ensuring that as healthcare evolves and the design of the tools that support it evolves with it.