SYNAPSIS
Canada Healthcare Roadmap — navigating a fragmented system for the people who need it most.
Role
Lead UX Researcher & Designer
Location
Canada (Remote)
Year
2025
Duration
4 Months
The system is a labyrinth. *We made it a map.*
For new residents arriving in Canada, the healthcare landscape isn't just a challenge — it's a labyrinth. The Canada Health Infoway system operates with high regional variability, where access to GPs, specialists, and community services depends heavily on obscure local boundaries rather than proximity.
Users suffered from a severe absence of first-step help — unable to navigate complex administrative prerequisites and localised referral pathways. Information was fragmented across a score of legacy PDFs and regional websites.
50+ interviews. Three cities. *One disease underneath.*
50+ user interviews across Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal. Structured and semi-structured. Participants across 6 healthcare-need categories.
Cross-provincial reach ensuring geographic representation. 45–60 minute sessions. Recorded with consent.
Collaborative synthesis. 340+ data points. 8 primary insight clusters. Prioritised by frequency × severity matrix.
"I don't even know what I'm supposed to be looking for. I just need someone to tell me what the first step is."
— Interview participant, Toronto, 2025
Language barrier compounds administrative complexity. Plain language dramatically improves task completion.
Users didn't share information between specialist visits — bottlenecks resolved by designing a document-sharing layer.
Information overload meant users abandoned complex tasks — we designed for progressive disclosure.
Foundational scaffolding.
Primary: new arrival (0–6 months). Secondary: established immigrant navigating specialist care. Tertiary: family carer.
Flow mapping across 10 patient journeys. Identified 3 critical drop-off moments. Each linked directly to a design solution.
From 30+ entry points to one coherent hierarchy. Goal-led organisation, not institutional categories.
Testing revealed users didn't know what healthcare resources existed at the 'first touchpoint' level. We pivoted from a list-based directory to an interactive map that geographically contextualised available care — making the invisible infrastructure of Canadian healthcare literally visible.
SYNAPSIS
├── I need to see a doctor ── Map · Walk-in · Same-day
├── I just need a prescription ── Refill · Renew · Transfer
├── I need to understand ── Glossary · System basics · My coverage
├── I need help for someone ── Caregiver tools · Translation · Notes
└── Profile ── Status · Documents · HistoryGeo-spatial first.
Research: No form filling, no postal code entry. Users locate themselves and see relevant resources immediately.
Research: Surfaces only services the user actually qualifies for. Eliminates false leads.
Research: Step-by-step directions including transit, distance, and whether a referral is needed.
Plain language is a civil rights issue.
Task comprehension when medical jargon replaced with plain language
Monthly users navigating the system through the platform
Regional pilots deployed across Canadian provinces
Validated, actionable decisions made by users in-platform
What this project *actually taught me.*
Healthcare UX demands emotional weight
A map that shows 'the nearest clinic' is not enough. The design must acknowledge the user is scared, new, and possibly unwell. Every interaction carries that weight.
Plain language is a civil rights issue
Comprehension went from 36% to 91% when medical jargon was replaced with plain language. That 55-point difference is the difference between a user who gets help and one who goes without.
Cultural specificity is not edge-case
Province-specific systems, language-specific services, and culturally-competent providers are the main features — not accessibility afterthoughts.
Mental models > UI patterns
The interface wasn't broken. The assumed mental model underneath it was. Fix the model and the UI follows.
"Designing for healthcare is designing for fear. And fear deserves clarity, not cleverness."