Cortext is a HIPAA compliant secure messaging platform. To remain compliant, dictation through native services (i.e., Siri, Google Now) is blocked. This creates a frustrating user-experience and forces the physician or nurse to enter a message manually, increasing the time to hand-off information, consult, or even call a code. Nuance's Dragon Medical is a HIPAA compliant dictation service and by integrating this technology into Cortext, clinicians would be enabled to utilize speech technology and speed up their clinical workflows.
To take advantage of the technology, Nuance (maker of Dragon Medical) provides an API for their technology, complete with two UI options.
Cortext Today
The current UI for Cortext has limited space in the UI, especially in the input bar. During this project, there were simultaneous projects occurring affecting the input field. To see more about the input field project take a look at the Input Field project.
Nuance GUI
Nuance's API provided two options for a GUI, what they labeled as a SpeechBar and a Speech Control.
The GUI options hadn't been implemented in a messaging app before, and after mock-ups showing the integration as defined in the API, it became clear that the default options would not work in a messaging environment. The SpeechBar covered too much of the UI, especially on smaller devices, and the SpeechControl needed too much of a footprint in the Input Bar, or header, especially with the separate simultaneous projects.
The GUI was provided by Nuance, through the API, so there was zero control over the look and feel, other than the placement.
Final UI
The problematic UI called for some creative thinking and collaboration with Nuance. After working with the Nuance team, and internal stakeholders, and evaluating multiple options, I was able to create a compromise: Use the Speech Control with an Imprivata Cortext style mic. The Cortext mic would call the Speech Control and send it to the recording state.
The Speech Control as-is was too big for the input bar space and would have to take over both the mic button and the attachments button as well as be artificially reduced in height.
Luckily, Nuance had a redesign of their Speech Control on their roadmap and after discussions, the Nuance team was able to deliver the new GUI sooner than expected, which allowed for a more seamless user-experience in Cortext.
With the tweaks to the default Nuance GUI, and the compromises made between their brand/API requirements and Cortext brand/space requirements we were able to achieve an outcome that satisfied the original goals of the project as well as the business and brand requirements - and achieve a better UX for clinical users that seamlessly integrated into their established workflows and mental models for using Cortext.