GeneSight® Test Kit

Overview

CLIENT: Myriad Neuroscience

INDUSTRY: Medical

Over the span of just 4 weeks, Priority Designs helped create a new design for Myriad Neuroscience’s GeneSight® test kit. The existing test kit was intended for a clinical in-office use, which needed a new format created for a patient-focused, easy-to-use collection kit for home use. With the help of human factors evaluations to address usability, our team designed the Instructions for Use (IFU) into a tri-fold 3-step system resulting in increased compliance, reduced errors, and quicker turnaround of return for completed patient collection kits.

A Move to Home Health

Through its GeneSight® Psychotropic test, Myriad Neuroscience provides information to healthcare providers about their patient’s genetic variations, which may impact how they metabolize or respond to certain psychiatric medications. Historically, the majority of sample collection was completed in a clinic-based setting using a sample collection kit designed for clinics. In response to COVID-19 and market shifts towards tele-medicine and remote exams, these in-office collection kits were being sent directly to patient homes.

The problem was, patient confusion sometimes resulted in information being omitted or entered incorrectly, causing delays while Myriad contacted patients by phone to collect and confirm the required information.

Myriad Neuroscience needed to create a new self-administered home patient collection kit that addressed these issues.

As the project began, our task was to design a patient-focused sample collection kit which provides clear, easy to understand instructions for use that facilitated:

Proper collection of patient consent and insurance information
Proper collection of DNA test samples
Proper and prompt return to a lab for analysis

The sample collection kit would use existing consumables such as buccal swabs. Throughout the design of the test kit, we sought to align visuals and messaging with established GeneSight® brand identity, website, and other digital and print collateral. We then set out to create a better patient experience to instill greater confidence in the test outcomes, and deliver production-ready art within 4 weeks.

Human Factors Evaluation

To start, our human factors team conducted a heuristic review of the existing IFU design using established human factors standards and regulatory guidance documents.

AAMI HE75: Human Factors Engineering for Medical
AAMI TIR49: Design of training and instructional materials for medical devices used in non-clinical environments

They then identified opportunities to improve the IFU’s usability and provided design guidance for:

Verbiage and visual guidance for optimal usability
Font size and color contrast for optimal readability

A usability study and task analysis was conducted with the patient collection kit components to identify key challenges and opportunities with collecting patient data and biologic samples, and then shipping the collection kit back to the lab. We discovered several steps that lacked a clear hierarchical structure, causing task confusion. Some instructions were separated from the task, causing participants to skip steps. We also considered how to better organize kit components so they would be easier for users to handle and ship.

Designing for Usability

From these insights, our visual design team created a series of concepts exploring opportunities to improve usability while enhancing the overall user experience. We studied various packaging options and materials to optimize manufacturing cost.

Following alignment on the design with Myriad Neuroscience, our designers then created final production-ready art and coordinated with the print vendor for production.

Creating Order, and Simplicity

The final design solution is a tri-fold binder that organizes the patient collection kit components into an easy to follow 3-step process.

Step 1 instructs on how to collect patient data
Step 2 instructs on how to properly collect the DNA samples
Step 3 instructs patients how to ship and return the samples in the provided envelope

The tri-fold solution created a visual hierarchy of steps to better guide users through the process. The folder also organizes the sample kit components and directly aligns them with the IFU in each step for better usability. Color coding the steps and kit components further strengthens these relationships.

The graphics follow established Myriad GeneSight® brand guidelines and feature messaging to help explain what the test is for and the benefit of following through with testing. A call to action is prominently displayed on the inside center spread to prompt patients to return the sample kit quickly for improved outcomes. The option of telephone guidance was added to further aid patients if they had questions during testing.

The patient collection kit folder is printed with variety of varnishes on a heavy weight paper to subtly improve the usability. A spot gloss varnish was used to create a high-quality visual appearance and highlight key information. The soft-touch matte varnish creates a warm, approachable feel when handled. Thoughtful consideration of color, tone of voice and use of white space help create a calming influence to further reduce anxieties. All these elements work together to help increase the perception of quality and provide more confidence in the outcomes of the test.

The Result?

Priority Designs helped quickly evaluate, design, and deliver print-ready files for a patient-focused Instructions for Use in just 4 weeks. Usability recommendations and design principles helped create a patient collection kit that improved the experience with simple, clear instructions.

After the new sample collection kits were sent to patient homes, the important metrics for compliance improved across the board including:

Patient sample kit return rate jumped to 73%, beating the industry standard benchmark of 70%
Improved the time to return from patients by 35% over the clinic test kit format
Reduced exceptions from incomplete/incorrect information by 10% over the clinic test kit format