Moira Gill

IQVIA · Patient Portal

Redirecting a visual redesign toward the patient journey.

The team expected a visual refresh. Research showed that the more important problem was helping clinical‑trial participants understand what was happening, what they needed to do, and what came next.

Role
UX Researcher
Domain
Clinical trials
Scope
Research, product strategy
Timeline
3-week sprint

PROJECT IMPACT

Research redirected the roadmap

Findings shifted the work from a visual refresh toward journey-based guidance for participants.

The sprint became a reusable model

The focused two-week research approach was reused to evaluate other product questions.

SOLUTION PREVIEW

A homepage organized around the participant journey.

The emerging direction replaced a flat task list with a clearer view of the participant’s current stage, next actions, and what was ahead.

Participant portal homepage showing the current trial stage, next visit, prioritized tasks, and upcoming actions.

  • Stage-aware context

    The homepage orients around where the participant is in the trial, not just around features.

  • A clear next visit

    Upcoming appointments surface preparation steps before they’re needed.

  • Prioritized tasks

    Tasks are ordered by urgency so nothing time-critical is missed.

  • Supportive guidance

    Plain-language cues reduce anxiety about what to do and what comes next.

The context

The assignment started as a visual refresh

The existing portal supported more than 210,000 clinical-trial participants. Before moving into design, I ran a two-week research sprint to understand how participants used the portal during a trial.

The research showed that participants needed more orientation. They could see individual tasks and notifications, but they had little context for where they were in the trial, what a visit required, or what was coming next.

Participant needs changed across the journey.

Organizing content by study stage made the experience more relevant and easier to navigate.

  1. Stage 1

    Getting started

    • Understand what happens next
    • Complete onboarding tasks
    • Know who to contact

  2. Stage 2

    Preparing for visits

    • See upcoming appointments
    • Know what to bring
    • Learn how to prepare

  3. Stage 3

    During participation

    • Track daily tasks and symptoms
    • Log data on time
    • See progress so far

  4. Stage 4

    Ongoing follow-up

    • Know what is still required
    • Stay informed on results
    • Maintain contact and support

Findings

Where the portal was falling short

Visit uncertainty
Participants were often unsure how to prepare for visits, what would happen during them, or what came afterward.
Notification fatigue
Frequent reminders created noise without necessarily helping participants understand which actions mattered most.
Missing journey context
The portal showed individual tasks, but not where participants were in the larger clinical-trial journey.

THE PRODUCT DIRECTION

Support participants across the full trial journey.

The research reframed the work around three needs: helping participants understand where they were, prepare for visits, and control how they received updates.

01Make the journey visible

The portal connected the participant’s current stage, progress, upcoming milestones, and the next useful action into a single continuous view.

Participant portal interface showing trial progress, milestones, and the next useful action.

Progress and what’s ahead

A stage-aware view kept progress, the current milestone, and the next action legible in one place.

  • Current stage

    Anchors where the participant is in the trial.

  • Upcoming milestones

    Give a preview of what is ahead.

  • The next useful action

    Stays clearly surfaced.

02Reduce uncertainty around visits

Visit preparation was brought into the participant experience, surfacing what to expect, what to do beforehand, and relevant supporting context.

Visit-preparation interface showing appointment context, advance steps, and supporting information.

Visit preparation in context

Each upcoming visit carried its own expectations, advance steps, and reference material.

  • Visit summary

    Explains what will happen and why.

  • Advance steps

    Outline what to complete before arriving.

  • Supporting context

    Stays attached to the visit itself.

03Give participants control over communication

Participants could see and manage which updates they received and how those updates were delivered.

Communication-preferences interface showing notification types and delivery controls.

Communication preferences

Controls for update type and delivery channel gave participants a clearer sense of what to expect from the portal.

  • Update categories

    Separate essential from optional messages.

  • Delivery channels

    Can be chosen per category.

  • Preferences

    Are transparent and reversible.

WHAT CARRIED FORWARD

The research sprint became part of a reusable product-development model.

Within the three-week engagement, the core research work followed a focused two-week sprint. That approach became the User Insights mode within a broader framework for moving from evidence through solutioning, testing, and implementation.

Four-mode product-development model covering User Insights, Solutioning, Testing, and Implementing, with the Patient Portal research sprint identified as an application of User Insights.

WHAT THIS WORK ESTABLISHED

A clearer model for supporting participants over time.

The work moved the team beyond a visual refresh and toward an experience organized around the participant journey. Connecting stage, visit preparation, and communication preferences created a clearer model for how the portal could support participants—not only with what to do, but with where they were and what came next.

← All Work