Healthcare UX Research in China

China's large number of internet users and a series of policies about healthcare provide large potential for more technology use in the healthcare industry. “Co-building, sharing and for all” are set to be the strategic theme together with “Internet + Medical Health” to promote internet-based healthcare, encouraging medical institutions to leverage internet-based technologies to improve the efficiency of medical services.

The healthcare ecosystem and the consumer channels are complex and unique in China. To make sure your digital products or services can reach and satisfy your target users, many aspects need to be localized or even tested by your users. It is important to understand what & why your target users behave and the expected user journey for your products or services.

We at UX Spot have extensive experiences with the healthcare industry. As more modern technology is implemented in the field of healthcare, we make sure we keep up to date with the latest UX trends in the healthcare industry. Below, we outline a few of the key trends in healthcare technologies in China.

Internet hospital

An internet hospital is a licensed online medical platform based on a offline hospital, integrating consultation, prescription, payment and dispensing into one-stop Internet medical service centers. Internet hospitals are running smoothly and gaining considerable traction among the public especially because a series of policies that the government released and the efficient express service makes for contactless drug delivery. Compared with physical hospitals, Internet hospitals have the advantages of higher efficiency at lower costs, optimized resource distribution and non-contact treatment.

Health wearable devices
With more and more people using smartwatches or health wearables to track steps, sleeps, and even blood pressure, users are more used to being surrounded by data about their health. A study shows that the number of wearable devices is forecast to hit 1.1 billion by 2022 worldwide. 
With this popularity of wearable devices, the challenge shifts from collecting the most accurate data to presenting the data in the easiest way to understand. Users no longer just want to see the numbers, but the useful insights behind the numbers and how it affects their well-being.

Medical virtual reality
Virtual reality opens doors to a variety of new opportunities for both patients and the doctors in the healthcare industry. For the patients, VR is presenting itself as an enticing solution to help patients relax and suffer to a lesser extent when the patients are in anxious or painful situations. For the doctors, VR is mostly seen as the training tool to improve their skills. It can be used to simulate the actual operations or help physicians experiencing life as elderly.

What we listed above  are just a few of the technologies that are currently active in the healthcare industry, but there are many more exciting technologies in use and under development. We at UX Spot focus on the latest industry news and expand the frontiers of UX research in China.