Escort Helping Hand App

Project Overview

With six years of experience working as a patient escort in a hospital, I witnessed firsthand the challenges of patient transportation and the inefficiencies within existing systems. One of the primary tools used for coordinating patient movement is Epic, but its limitations often slow down workflow and communication.

To address these pain points, I designed the Escort Helping Hand App — a hospital-focused mobile solution aimed at:

  • Improving operational efficiency within the patient escort department

  • Providing real-time information to streamline workflows

  • Enhancing communication between escorts, nurses, and departments

  • Reducing delays and improving the overall patient experience

By re-imagining the escorting process, this project explores how thoughtful UX design can simplify operations, support staff productivity, and improve patient care.

Timeline

Five Months

My Role

UI/UX Designer

Collaboration

Myself

The Problem

Through my experience, I identified several inefficiencies in the existing Epic system that directly impacted escort workflows:

  1. No Nurse Reference
    Escorts have no quick way to identify the nurse assigned to a patient, leading to wasted time searching or asking around.

  2. No Nurse Availability Status
    The system doesn’t show whether a nurse is on break or available, often causing unnecessary waiting and confusion.

  3. No Patient Language Barrier Information
    Escorts aren’t informed if a patient has limited English proficiency, which can result in miscommunication and frustration.

  4. No Department Directions
    There’s no built-in navigation for hospital departments, making it difficult for new escorts to locate destinations quickly.

  5. No Equipment Location Tracking
    Escorts have to manually search for essential equipment like wheelchairs and stretchers, wasting time and delaying patient transport.

Project Goal

The primary goal was to enhance efficiency and clarity within the patient escort workflow by designing a user-friendly system that improves coordination, reduces delays, and supports a more organized patient transport process.

Design Process

Drawing from six years of hands-on experience, I began by analyzing daily escort workflows and identifying recurring inefficiencies. I mapped out the key challenges, then brainstormed practical, tech-driven solutions that directly addressed real-world needs.

Key Design Features:

  • Nurse Reference Photos: Displays a photo of the assigned nurse, helping escorts identify them instantly.

  • Real-Time Nurse Availability Status: Shows whether a nurse is currently on duty or on break to prevent wasted time.

  • Integrated Translation Tool: Enables quick communication with patients who have limited English proficiency.

  • Hospital Mapping System: Provides turn-by-turn directions to hospital departments, ideal for new hires or expanding facilities.

  • Equipment Tracking System: Uses GPS to locate available wheelchairs, stretchers, or other equipment.

Each feature was crafted to make the workflow faster, more transparent, and intuitive for hospital staff.

Key Design Features

A quick-view screen showing nurse photos and live status updates to support instant communication.

Feature 1 - Nurse Availability Dashboard

Feature 2 - Patient Transport Map

GPS-enabled navigation that helps escorts locate departments and optimize travel routes.

A real-time tracker that displays nearby wheelchairs and stretchers, reducing search time.

Feature 3 - Equipment Finder

Built-in translation assistance to improve communication with non-English-speaking patients.

Feature 4 - Translation Interface

Final Design

Home Page UI

Equipment Locator UI

Nurse Reference UI

Translator Page UI

Department Locator UI

Solution and Results

The Escort Helping Hand App addresses critical workflow gaps by bringing real-time awareness, accessibility, and organization to the escorting process.

By integrating visual references, real-time data, and location-based features, the app helps reduce downtime, minimize confusion, and foster better collaboration among hospital staff.

While no formal usability testing was conducted, the design was driven by real-world observations, user empathy, and industry best practices. The result is a concept that demonstrates how UX design can:

  • Improve staff coordination

  • Reduce patient transport delays

  • Enhance overall hospital efficiency and patient care

Key Takeaways

This project reinforced the value of firsthand user insight and context-driven design. By combining personal experience with user-centered design thinking, I was able to create a concept that directly responds to real challenges in healthcare operations — showing how design can make an immediate impact in critical environments.