Easy-to-use tools for ambulance workers

For Ambusuite, we have made a redesign of Ambuforms, the tool of the nurses in ambulance care, so that they function more according to the wishes and needs of the users.

Ambusuite is the technology platform for the registration of ambulance care, process management, reporting and advance announcements to the emergency department in a large part of the country. Ambuforms is the patient record that nurses use on the iPad in the ambulance. With Ambuforms, an ambulance nurse is able to record everything that happens during an ambulance ride. This information is confidentially offered to the hospital so that they also know that a new patient is on the way.

One of our UX designers, Anouk Roumans, was responsible for improving the user experience when capturing the medical data in the ambulance. "During this project, I conducted user research, conducted interviews, created a customer journey, watched on location, held workshops with users and used user tests to identify the bottlenecks and the needs of the users in order to improve the platform."

Anouk worked at the ambulance location in Noord-Brabant and interviewed employees in Amsterdam, Hollands Midden, Rotterdam, Gooi- en Vechtstreek, Flevoland and Gelderland. As she went along, she recorded the needs of the nurses. She elaborated these requirements and wishes in detailed wireframes and a working prototype. In addition, she has made a start on the design for the design system for iPad use.

Users of Ambuforms experienced a number of bottlenecks, ranging from lack of overview and accessibility, to having to enter certain data twice. The nurses also wanted it to be easier to enter medication, and to be able to see the patient's history at a glance – what actions and work diagnoses colleagues have performed before.

The result is a modified application in which new structure of filling in and navigating has been examined. This makes it easier and faster for the user to click through, leaving more time for the patient's care. Attention has been paid to accessibility and size of the input fields and clicks of actions.

The input of data (including vitals and medication) is designed in a way that meets the needs of the user, giving them more control over the entry. A patient history page has been designed, so that important data can already be passed on to subsequent colleagues. This data can be copied.