Can you briefly tell us a bit about your medical background and career route into Healthcare UX (incl current role)?

I graduated from Bart’s & The London back in 2011 and worked as a doctor for three years in North East Yorkshire. It was after working for around a year and a half that I started thinking about moving in to an IT role, but it took me a further two years to fully understand what that role was.

I began as a Clinical Analyst at Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust where I developed new orders and requests or their electronic records system. After six months I became familiar with the terms User Experience and User Centred Design, and quickly realised that I was doing UX work for a while and didn’t know it.

Over the following six months I found a few mentors, read loads of books and articles, attended events and successfully got a place to study a part-time MSc in Human Computer Interaction at UCL. The final important step was to practice what I was doing regularly by working on projects. There is no clear, defined Clinical UX Design path, I’ve had to carve it out myself, but I am working on changing that for future doctors who want to become Clinical UX Designers of the future.

What kind of roles are there for doctors in Healthcare UX?

There is a huge demand for clinicians who understand the concept of design thinking and apply it to healthcare IT projects. UX designers in general utilise a core set of skills which include gathering the requirements for a project, conducting user research, designing computer interfaces and websites (which involves graphic design skills), testing design concepts and helping to roll out a new solution. Some UX designers even code, which is very useful, but not mandatory. What makes doctors unique in any of these roles is that doctors understand the medical jargon, know healthcare, have established contacts within the clinical community and a lot of credibility, even if they don’t know much about technology.

Describe a typical day.

Depends on what projects I’m juggling, but I could be in a meeting with someone who has a request for a new website, or new feature to an existing application. We will go through what they want and discuss the implications of making the change, then start talking about options. I will likely also do some user research which normally involves participants putting loads of different ideas on post it notes which then get grouped based on similarities, and/or rated for how good the ideas are. This is a great way of getting ideas of designs of new websites or software. Additionally, I do a lot of designing work or create prototypes of my designs which I present to the development team who then turn my designs in to a working website or piece of software.

Tell us about career progression, working hours and salary brackets?

Career progression depends on years of experience as well as specialist skills, such as high fidelity prototyping where you rapidly make simulations of software and websites, or experience in a particular field such as mobile applications.

You shouldn’t be working more than 40hrs a week, unless you have a really tight deadline, but even then, it should Monday-Friday. Often you will be working flexible hours, and have the option to work from home.

Starting salary can be anywhere between £20,000 and £35,000. If you can code and do graphic design, you will have better job prospects and demand a higher salary. Having a master’s degree in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) without any work experience will keep you at the lower end of the salary scale. But with an MSc in HCI, just a year or two of work experience makes you a lot more credible and so you can demand a lot more pay. You should be earning around £45,000 after 5yrs, especially if you have an MSc. Or you could go contracting and earn at the very least £300 a day.

With all that said however, if you have the skills for the job and present yourself in the right way, you do not have to be limited by common salary brackets. Apart from a friend in Pennsylvania who is a Radiologist who moonlights as the UX Designer for his own start up, I am considered the only full time Clinical UX Designer in the world. That puts me in a very unique position.

Wow! That’s pretty cool Gyles! What led you to decide on a career in Healthcare UX?

I wanted a job that used more of my creative skills, specifically my visual design skills, as well as one where I could work anywhere in the world and have more structure to my personal time. UX provides all of that. But Healthcare UX specifically puts my medical knowledge and experiences to good use since I understand the healthcare sector extremely well, especially what it means to work as a doctor.

What do you think led to your success in the field?

Definitely working as a doctor first has given me a lot of transferable skills, which made the transition in to the new role very quick and easy. It also helps that I am not intimidated by code and enjoy working on IT projects in general. Additionally, I am very passionate about what I do because I love it. That surely has helped me progress my career quickly too.

What transferable skills and experience did you bring from your medical training?

Getting requirements from clients for a project is actually just like taking a patient history. In fact, working on software development is very similar to looking after a patient. After taking a history you will use an examination and investigation to help reduce your differential diagnosis further. I do the same thing in UX design, where I do some research and come up with some initial ideas, but I test them to make sure they are the right design for the brief. And then I do a check-up once the solution is built, similar to how you have a follow-up with the doctor!

Ultimately doctors are problem solvers, and so are UX designers. Both roles focus on what keeps the most important person happy; the patient for doctors and the end user for UX designers. Doctors call it patient centred care, UX designers call it user centred design.

Top 3 tips for others wanting to get into the field?

1) Learn about UX design. There are many books and articles out there, too many to list here, but start with The Design of Everything Day Things by Don Norman.

2) Be a part of UX Design community as it takes a community to develop a UX designer. Head to Meetup.com and search for events near you with UX design as a keyword. In London there is a UX event happening virtually every week. Make sure you network, make new friends and get a mentor.

3) Work on a UX project! The easiest one is to make your own website. Even if you don’t code, there are many What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWIG) website builders out there. By following a user centred design process, you will surely make an awesome website which can be part of your portfolio

Pros/cons of career in Healthcare UX (compared to medicine)?

Pros

• Great work life balance
• Quickly becomes a very lucrative career choice, especially since
• Creativity is a necessity in UX design in order to come to the best solution, so there is no such thing as a bad idea!

Cons

• The Healthcare UX community is very small, and has very clinicians
• Starting salaries are lower than what doctors are used to and can stay that way for a couple of years.
• Doctors need to prove themselves as being a Clinical UX Designer is virtually unheard of. So can be hard to start your career.

To hear more from the inspiring Dr Gyles and to learn how to become a Clinical UX Designer make sure you don’t miss our event DISRUPT on 25th June in London.

This week orthopaedic surgeon and management consultant Aroon Baskaradas gives us the low down on his career in Management Consulting…

What is management consultancy?

Management consultancy describes a wide spectrum of what is termed ‘professional services’. If you are a management consultant, this essentially means that clients hire you to analyse how effectively their business is running. They might ask you to solve a particular problem, oversee a specific task or project, or give advice and recommendations as to how to improve.

A typical day

Coffee. Always start the day with the right wake up call. Something rich, dark and smooth will be just right. If they make decent coffee then even better..ahem 😉 Monday to Thursday you’ll probably work near the client’s site so chances are you’ll be waking up in a hotel. This novelty won’t last forever though!

Inevitably you will have checked your phone by 8am to check that there isn’t a meeting cancellation or that the client doesn’t need something urgently. You’ll arrive shortly before 9 to catch up with pressing emails and check the day’s schedule before sitting down with the team for an hour to catch up about the project’s progress. Another cup of coffee.

You might have a brainstorm or reflect on a particularly challenging issue then head off to a briefing meeting with the clients. You’ll share some data ahead of the presentation early afternoon and make some tweaks to the PowerPoint then dash back to the office to put the presentation together with the team.

Conference call at lunch is not ideal as you have so much to cram in, but you switch video off and get on with other tasks while keeping one ear open.

You grab a sandwich from Pret on way to the boardroom but decide against eating it as the CEO is there and you don’t want crumbs everywhere. Presentation goes well. There were some difficult questions but the partner on the project chimed in to save the day. You dial a cab and make a mad dash to the station in time for a train to an evening meeting. A quick coffee on the train to recharge.

Once done, you head home and perch on your bed with your laptop. Just a few more excel sheets to crunch through ahead of tomorrow. Hmm. What’s for dinner. Damn - didn’t have lunch! Hands trembling from the excess coffee. The Pret sandwich still looks edible. You sink your teeth into it and you get a call from an unknown number….

What are the hours and official salary brackets?

Officially you are contracted to work around 7/8 hours per day, weekdays only. Unlike another employer we know about, Saturday is not classed as a working day and nor is 10pm.

You actually end up working a fair bit more but on some days you can work from home, which saves travelling time and evens things out. How long you work depends very much on the project and how close you are to a deadline. People have been known to be up till midnight or 1am working on projects but this is not that common and there is a move in the industry to respect people’s personal hours.

Wages can range from anywhere in the early 30’s to mid 60’s for the first 4 - 6 years and then start increasing significantly once you reach the competitive heights of the pyramid. I’ll explain more in my book.

Websites like glassdoor.co.uk can also give you a more accurate representation of how wages vary by firm.

Why did you want to do it?

I wanted to see the how the NHS runs ‘from the other side’ and whilst I loved helping individual patients, I wanted to help more people at the same time on bigger projects.

What were the keys to you succeeding as an applicant?

Two main things. Firstly, the right time and place. I’ll explain in my book the importance of doing your research to target your application appropriately. Secondly, the task of amalgamating all my previous experience and making it relevant to consulting. This is not as difficult as you think and I’ll share some tips on this too.

What transferable skills did you bring from your medical training and experience?

Everything you do as a medic is transferable. Ok everything except PR examinations. That’s not transferable. Transfer that and you’ll get a criminal record! Apart from that, we are masters at people skills: leading teams; inspiring people; educating them; solving problems for them and don’t forget the most important one of all: listening.

Top 3 tips for others wanting to get into the field?

1. Make sure you have a clear idea of what you’re getting yourself into and why you want to do it. This is important both for the application but even more so for yourself. If you don’t know enough, do more research.
2. Talk to lots of people in the field. As a minimum 2 people at every firm you want to apply to. You’ll glean some insights about the firm’s culture and working practices that will set you apart from other applicants.
3. Commit to it. Do leave the back door open to get back into your medical career if need be (I even recommend that) but demonstrate that you are whole-heartedly willing to take the plunge. Believe it and it will show.

In my book I’ll give you more tips about preparing for the interview and application process, the top 7 reasons why people fail, the top 10 reasons to management consulting and for those of you who are unsure – I’ll also give you a reality check to help you understand even more about it and whether it’s right for you. Happy reading!

Aroon Baskaradas

For step-by-step guidance, expert advice, and ‘insider’ info on getting into Management Consulting as a doctor, pre-order your copy of Aroon’s book ‘Management Consulting for Medics’.

5 Top Reasons to Consider a Career in Space Medicine

Space medicine – not everyone’s first thought when they consider a career as a doctor or nurse. But, despite the considerable challenges in carving out a career in this niche field, it’s usually a dream come true for those who make it. If you combine a passion for medicine with a fascination for all things astro, then training to become a space physician, flight surgeon, or astronaut doctor, may be the opportunity you have been looking for all these years. Below are five good reasons to consider this career move:

1. It’s at the cutting edge of advances in medicine

Due to the relative lack of knowledge about how the body operates at zero gravity (both in health, sickness and after being at zero gravity for prolonged periods), and because there is considerable vested interest in knowing more about it, space medicine is very much at the forefront of science & research. The field is evolving rapidly through experimentation and smart use of technology, and with longer stints in space likely in the future, the need for more research, awareness and indeed physicians who are able to deal with medical problems caused by or experienced while in space will certainly be on the increase.

2. It could be your ‘golden ticket’

With NASA recently confirming the likelihood of flowing water on Mars, the future of space travel will involve manned missions to the ‘Red Planet’. If we consider the strong possibility of mass space tourism soon, through enterprises like Virgin Galactic and SpaceX, the prospects in space medicine are certainly growing. More opportunities to get established in this field are coming – and those who start the process now will be best positioned.

3. You may get a chance to experience space travel

Is your dream to man a space shuttle or to work on the International Space Station? All astronauts receive basic medical training to cope with the rigours of being in space and emergencies that may arise; but the need for qualified medics as part of the crew will increase as missions to space become longer. Mars is approximately two years travel time away, for instance. Also, when space tourism begins in earnest it is highly likely that trained medics will need to be part of the crew, given that paying passengers are unlikely to be as fit or as medically adept as astronauts, who receive two years training prior to flying.

4. It’s more exciting than being a GP

If you’ve ever caught yourself looking up at the moon and wondering where it all leads, or sneaking a second or third watch of that Star Trek episode, you’ll probably find space medicine more exciting than most other medical fields. Even if you don’t get to be a medic in space itself, you could help screen and train astronauts, be part of the ground crew during a mission, or help with experiments that change the history of medicine.

5. The unique medical challenges

The extreme stresses that the human body is exposed to in space present unique physical challenges of great interest to most in the medical profession. Some of the conditions that space physicians need to be familiar with include cardiac rhythm disturbances, baro-trauma, decompression sickness, decreased immune system function, greater risk of infection, bone density loss and muscle loss, radiation-related conditions, psychological problems and insomnia.
Making it in space medicine is a challenge that takes commitment and dedication – it is very competitive and certainly not for everyone - but the rewards for people who get there are huge.
Until recently, only a few space doctors were practicing in the whole of Europe; but new frontiers are opening up for such careers all the time.

Could it be the field that you have been looking for? If so, find out how you can get into this amazing field by ordering your copy of How to Become a Space Doctor.