Designing clarity for citizens accessing critical health data
Context
My PEP is a public-facing Electronic Health Record system within a state-wide digital platform used by millions of citizens. It gives users direct access to their full medical history — including consultations, prescriptions, exams, and medical images — without mediation from healthcare professionals.
The Problem
Medical information is complex, sensitive, and easily misinterpreted by non-expert users.
Porly contextualized access could lead to:
- Confusion and anxiety
- Incorrect assumptions about diagnoses
- Unsafe self-decisions
At the same time, withholding information would break trust and harm continuity of care.
My Role
UX owner for the product, responsible for information structure, content strategy, and risk mitigation within strict legal, privacy, and platform constraints.
Key UX Decisions
1. Context over restriction
Stakeholders opposed exposing historical prescriptions, fearing self-medication.
I argued that digital access does not create this risk — prescriptions are already physically delivered to patients.
Removing access would disproportionately harm users who lose prescriptions or depend on medical history across providers.
Instead of hiding data, I focused on structuring and contextualizing it to support safer interpretation.
2. Progressive disclosure of critical information
Although all medical data was accessible, information was intentionally layered and ordered to reduce cognitive overload and prevent misinterpretation.
Users were guided through timelines, groupings, and contextual cues rather than exposed to raw data.
3. Citizen-centered language
Medical and institutional terminology was translated into clear, user-safe language without compromising accuracy, balancing legal constraints with comprehension.