Judith R. Faulkner
Who is this designer and why did you choose them?
Judith Faulkner is the founder and programmer/ designer of Epic Systems, which is a privately-owned healthcare software company. She is extremely accomplished in this company alone, having been named in Forbesas the most successful female technology founder, and ranking her at number 6 for its “America’s Self-Made Women” list, since initially founding the company in 1979.
When initially researching her, I found that she comes off very humble and appears to want the best for her company/product and the services it provides. When founding Epic Systems, she had a clear goal for the direction and it shows with its continuous success.
What is a project they practiced User-Centered Design in?
Since I chose the system/product before the designer, I will simply elaborate on Epic Systems. This software is a healthcare and medical records database, which has been installed in hospitals and doctors’ offices as well as universities throughout America, the United Kingdom, and Denmark.
The product and company started as a 3-person part-time job project in a garage in Madison, Wisconsin. The project was originally titled Human Services Computing. It started out with a $6,000 investment coming from Faulkner’s parents, who had inspired her, as her father was a pharmacist and her mother was the director for Oregon Physicians for Social responsibility. The company is now entirely self-funded, and provides other services such as developing, manufacturing, licensing, and supporting in top of the sale/installation of its system into clinical operations.
What methods/principles for this project did they utilize?
Epic Systems focuses on usability, using simple and relevant information, reducing as much unnecessary mental information for its users, providing good and easy navigation of its system and the information entered and displayed (which includes displaying information clearly), support in use of its software (user support), and being error-free. These are all extremely vital to the system in the way it runs and is used because medical professionals and the patients already have a stressful experience when it comes to dealing with something like their personal health.
What was the designer’s intended/target audience?
Faulkner’s audience is geared towards medical professionals such as doctors, physicians, and everyone in between or beyond in the medical field. In addition, their patients are able to access their personal information if need be, to share it with other doctors they have appointments or visits with.
How did the practice of User Centered Design add value to the project as a whole?
This project’s clear focus on User-centered Design through and through allows for a better and easier experience when accessing a patient’s medical files. It is an evolved version of the paper files of the old days and allows multiple medical professional to access their specific patient’s medical records from the last 5–10 years, while still providing protection (under the HIPAA Act)
Who did you interview and why?
I interviewed my mother because she uses Epic every day in her career. She has been in the medical field for over 30 years, and besides not using Epic when working for the Veteran’s Association (a federal healthcare agency, The U.S. Department of Federal Affairs), she has been using it in her current place of employment.
What was/is their experience with this program?
My mom explains how she enjoys the easy access of a patients records that are older and/or from other doctors, including tests and history of any diseases. She also feels that it is much easier to organize and see the information that has been entered. However, she does have criticisms for lack of customization in the right areas, which makes changing or fixing any information, as it is an extremely bureaucratic process. In addition, because so much more information falls to physicians, they spend much more time filling out the charts, which makes for too much information, some of which can be irrelevant.
Have they used anything similar to the original product (discussed above.)?
My mom compares Epic to other systems she currently uses or has used in the past, including MyChart and CPRS (Computerized Patient Record System- the Veteran’s Association system). She explains that with MyChart, patients have to opt-in/give permission to the doctors for specific personal use, and some may not because of a personal lack of trust or not having access to computers. She describes her CPRS as “antiquated” and says it cannot share information like Epic Systems can.
Sources and Citations:
“About Us.” Epic, https://www.epic.com/about.
Boulton, Guy. “Epic Systems Lets Patients Share Medical Records with Doctors around the World.” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee, 11 Nov. 2017, https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/business/health-care/2017/11/10/epic-systems-share-everywhere-medical-records-doctors/805805001/.
Eisen, Marc. “Epic Systems: Epic Tale.” Isthmus, 20 June 2008, https://isthmus.com/news/cover-story/epic-systems-epic-tale/.
“Epic.” Clinfowiki, https://www.clinfowiki.org/wiki/index.php/Epic_Systems.
Staff. “50 Things to Know about Epic and Judy Faulkner: Judy Faulkner Was a Recent Graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Master’s Degree in Computer Science When She Started Epic Systems in 1979.” Becker’s Hospital Review, 22 June 2015, https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/healthcare-information-technology/50-things-to-know-about-epic-and-judy-faulkner.html.