Case Study: Designing Patient Experiences for At-Home Diagnostics
Overview
At Tasso, I led UX design and research for patient-facing diagnostic workflows and clinician-supported digital health experiences.
The goal was to make at-home diagnostic testing safe, understandable, and actionable—while ensuring alignment with clinical requirements, regulatory constraints, and secure handling of patient data.
This work focused on translating complex diagnostic processes into clear, guided experiences that help patients successfully complete testing and confidently understand their results and next steps.
The Challenge
At-home diagnostics shift clinical procedures into the patient’s hands—introducing significant UX risk.
Patients must follow medical instructions accurately without direct clinician support. Poor usability can result in:
- confusion during sample collection
- incorrect test completion
- increased support burden
- reduced adherence to diagnostic workflows
At the same time, the experience needed to:
- meet clinical accuracy standards
- comply with regulatory requirements
- support secure, privacy-sensitive data handling
Designing for this space meant balancing usability with safety—where errors have real-world consequences.
My Role
UX Design & Research Lead
I led end-to-end UX across research, design, and validation, including:
- conducting research with patients, clinicians, and care teams
- mapping diagnostic workflows and patient journeys
- designing patient-facing experiences and secure portals
- prototyping and validating flows through usability testing
- collaborating with product, clinical, compliance, and engineering
Research & Discovery
To understand usability risks and workflow complexity, I conducted research across key stakeholders:
Patients
to identify confusion points, expectations, and barriers during testing
Clinicians & care teams
to understand how results integrate into care workflows
Operational stakeholders
to identify system constraints and compliance requirements
Methods included:
- moderated usability testing
- user interviews
- workflow walkthroughs
- task analysis of diagnostic steps
Key Insight: Confidence is Critical in Patient-Led Diagnostics
Patients weren’t just struggling with instructions—they were struggling with confidence.
Without clinician guidance, even small uncertainties created hesitation, errors, or abandonment.
The core issue wasn’t just clarity—it was ensuring patients felt confident they were doing the test correctly.
Key Findings
1. Instructions created high cognitive load
Patients had to interpret medical language while performing unfamiliar physical tasks.
Design focus: simplify and sequence instructions
2. Lack of feedback reduced confidence
Patients had no clear indication they were performing steps correctly.
Design focus: provide real-time feedback and reassurance
3. Results lacked context and meaning
Patients struggled to interpret results and understand next steps.
Design focus: connect results to clear actions
Design Approach
I designed a patient-centered experience focused on clarity, guidance, and trust.
Core principles:
Reduce cognitive load
Break complex workflows into simple, sequential steps
Guide through action
Use visual and contextual cues to support each step
Reinforce confidence
Provide confirmation and feedback throughout the process
Align with care workflows
Ensure outputs support clinical decision-making and follow-up
Key UX Solutions
Guided Diagnostic Workflow
A structured, step-by-step experience guiding patients through onboarding, sample collection, and completion.
- Focused attention on one task at a time
- Reduced ambiguity and decision fatigue
Clear Instruction Design
Simplified medical instructions into concise, visual steps.
- Combined text with diagrams and contextual cues
- Reduced misinterpretation and user error
Results & Follow-Up Experience
Designed patient portal experiences that translate results into clear, actionable next steps.
- Helped patients understand outcomes
- Supported continuity of care
Validation & Testing
High-fidelity prototypes were tested through moderated usability sessions.
Testing focused on:
- task completion success
- clarity of instructions
- patient confidence
Findings informed iterative improvements across on-boarding and diagnostic flows.
Outcome
The redesigned experience improved both usability and patient confidence by:
- reducing confusion during sample collection
- improving task completion rates in usability testing
- helping patients better understand results and next steps
- supporting safer, more reliable at-home diagnostic workflows
This work helped transform a complex clinical process into a guided, patient-friendly experience—reducing risk while improving accessibility to diagnostic care.