"As a physician in an ambulatory surgery center, this workflow doesn't seem like it was built for me."

This sentiment, expressed by multiple surgeons during discovery, captured the core issue: Athena's surgical case workflow was failing to meet physician needs. Specifically:

  • Misaligned task sequence: Documentation steps didn't match the order of clinical events

  • Unclear job boundaries: Critical tasks like the H&P attestation and operative note lacked obvious placement

  • Co-mingled workflows: Physician documentation was embedded within nursing workflows, making it difficult to get to  their specific tasks

  • Unused clutter: Sections that physicians never used created visual noise and slowed them down

The result? Physicians created workarounds, documented inconsistently (some in Assessment & Plan, others in Procedure Documentation), and felt the product wasn't designed with their workflow in mind.

Challenges and Constraints 

Research Constraints:

  • Limited customer pool: Our existing ASC clients were small in number and had already adapted to the product through workarounds, creating potential bias

  • Access to physicians: Surgeons' time is expensive and their schedules are unpredictable, making recruitment challenging

Success Criteria:

  • Align workflow sequence with actual clinical task order

  • Separate physician documentation from nursing workflows without breaking their connection

  • Reduce clutter by removing unused sections

  • Deliver measurable improvements in efficiency and usability

Research & Process 

I considered the fact that many of our existing customers was a small pool AND they also have made the product work for them by utilizing workarounds. In order to achieve more unbiased insights, I expanded research beyond existing customers to mobile app users- many of these users have crossover with our current clients.

During the calls, I shared the following concepts:

I also asked about thoughts behind renaming the workflow to “surgeon” or “proceduralist”. 

The Challenge: Design a better physician workflow with limited access to unbiased users, tight technical constraints, and an aggressive timeline.

My Approach:

  • Expanded research beyond existing customers to mobile app users for unbiased insights

  • Prioritized quick-win improvements (reordering, decluttering) over long-term structural changes (structured fields)