The following is a guest article by Sara Faatz, Director, Technology Community Relations at Progress
In recent years, we have seen a massive increase in society’s reliance on technology. Accelerated in large part due to the pandemic, technology evolved overnight in order to meet the changing needs of its users, most notably the ability to access information from anywhere on any device. As we have returned to our new normal, the advances we made continue to permeate our everyday lives.
The healthcare and medical industries are not immune to this evolution. Medical offices and practitioners are demanding digital experiences that allow them to move seamlessly across various devices – computers to tablets to AR/VR headsets and more – to better serve patients in a more productive and meaningful way. In fact, according to a report by IQVIA, there are more than 350,000 medical and healthcare applications available today.
Creators of those digital experiences have a lot to consider. Security and compliance. Data privacy. Different and changing regulations in various states and countries. All of these are non-negotiable elements of the digital experience for these industries. Arguably almost as important is accessibility, yet sadly it is often overlooked. And if a user cannot use the application on any of their devices, none of the rest of it matters.
The Compelling Need for Accessibility
You might be wondering what kind of accessibility needs a healthcare or medical professional could have. But consider this – in the US alone, 3.8 million adults between the ages of 21 and 64 have some sort of impairment of their vision (blindness or simply having trouble seeing). More than 466 million people worldwide have auditory problems. And not all disabilities are permanent. Every person who uses your software will likely have a disability or limitation at some point. A temporary disability could simply be only having one hand free to navigate or interact with the app while engaging with a patient.
Making your digital properties usable by people with any type of disability – physical, hearing, visual, cognitive, speech, or a combination thereof – permanent or temporary – signals empathy in your digital experience and democratizes interaction. And the easier a digital experience is to use; the more people will use it.
What does that mean though? What elements should you include in your digital experience to ensure it is accessible?
There are basic accessibility standards that should be followed when architecting a digital experience. With a little forethought and consideration, the accessibility accommodations you include in your digital experience could have a huge impact.
Features to Consider
Provide full keyboard support and make time constraints generous for people who may need more time to do things like fill out a form. This is especially useful for people with mobility or physical impairments.
Captions or transcripts should be available for videos/images and background noise should be used sparingly to accommodate people with auditory issues.
To ensure those with visual impediments can interact with your digital experience, you should ensure text can be resized by the user, that there is significant color contrast in the UI, and that app backgrounds are not too busy. Ideally, your digital experience would be compatible with a screen reader or a braille display.
Finally, make sure the navigation is simple and easy to understand; there should not be too many items flickering, blinking, or moving; and fonts need to be dyslexia friendly.
Adding accessibility as a required functionality of your digital experience does not require a new or special skillset. It requires forethought, understanding, and a commitment to making your digital experience accessible to provide a richer, user-friendly experience for ALL of your users. It is the right thing to do. On the upside, with more than 350,000 apps on the market today, having an easy-to-use, intuitive digital experience will be a strong differentiator for you.
About Sara Faatz
Sara Faatz is the Director, Technology Community Relations at Progress. She has spent the majority of her 20+ year career in the developer space, building community, producing events, creating marketing programs, and more. With more than 20 years of experience leading corporate and product marketing and community building for organizations that target primarily the developer audience, Sara has a proven track record of conceptualizing and orchestrating campaigns that evolve the brand and positively impact the company’s image and revenue. Over the years, she has run marketing departments (both large and small), built community programs from the ground up, created partner programs, and acted as a brand ambassador and spokesperson for various organizations.
