connectRN

Lead designer for connectRN's cross-platform products and product strategy

Role

Lead Product Designer

Company

connectRN

Platforms

iOS, Android, & web

Areas

Research, strategy, design

Team

1 PD, 1 PM, 2 FE, 2 BE

Industries

HealthTech

Date

2021

Project summaries

Challenges

At connectRN, I focused on design strategy aimed at solving key challenges across both clinician and administrator experiences. This included improving an inadequate and confusing clinician check-in flow that was impacting our business, redesigning an outdated Administrator Dashboard with inefficient UX, and tackling a messy clinician requirements experience that was a major pain-point for our clinicians.

Solutions

Solutions included improving the clinician check-in flow by empowering nurses to intuitively and easily resolve issues independently, redesigning the Administrator Dashboard to align with current branding while enhancing usability through targeted UX improvements, and overhauling the clinician requirements experience to reduce confusion and deliver a more seamless, user-friendly process.

Results

All solutions launched successfully, meeting key business and user goals by reducing friction, improving task completion, and increasing clinician satisfaction. Collectively, these improvements created a more seamless, empowering, and self-sufficient experience across connectRN’s clinician and administrator platforms.

My role

Responsible for the design direction and product strategy across the mobile app and web experiences, working with my team through research to define problems, prioritize features, and align clinician and business goals to deliver purpose-driven solutions.

Background

connectRN is a platform and community built for nurses and aides, founded on a culture of care, flexibility, and support. It's designed to improve the lives of clinicians by helping them take control of their work schedules, apply for shifts easily, and explore new career opportunities through a growing professional network. Built by nurses for nurses, connectRN gives users access to over a million posted shifts, allowing them to choose when and where they want to work, with same-day pay and 24/7 support. The platform makes it easy to sign up, get credentialed, and browse shifts based on specialty and care setting, including hospitals, home health, hospice, and more.


As the leading nurse community in the U.S., connectRN is reimagining a healthcare system where both clinicians and care facilities can thrive. Today, the platform supports more than 100,000 clinicians across the country. It plays a key role in addressing the healthcare staffing crisis while giving nurses the flexibility, tools, and support they need to succeed both on and off the clock.

My role

At connectRN, my goal was to make a meaningful impact by empowering nurses through thoughtful, user-centered design. I listened closely to our clinicians at every stage, using their feedback and insights to guide decisions and ensure the product supported all aspects of their lives. Through a human-centered design approach and Lean UX practices, I helped shape experiences that made it easier for nurses to do what they do best: care for patients.


I led the creation of a cross-platform design system and component library to unify our mobile and web products, streamline prototyping, and improve developer handoff. I conducted user interviews, tested interactive prototypes, and designed intuitive, user-centric flows that aligned with both business goals and real-world needs. Working in an agile, cross-functional team, I helped define problems, explore solutions, and drive the strategic direction of our product experiences.

Process

Project management

At connectRN, I managed my design work through a structured system using a Design Work Dashboard in JIRA. This allowed me to:

  • Track the status of all design work across stages (Paused, In Progress, Design Complete, Design Implemented, etc.)

  • Link design tasks to corresponding tickets in the current sprint board for full visibility

  • Give cross-functional teams easy access to view the status of my work and overall workload

  • Attach direct Figma links to each ticket, referencing specific designs, prototypes, or assets


I worked closely with engineers and product managers to clarify requirements, provide regular progress updates, and collaboratively resolve blockers. As part of our Definition of Done, I flagged tickets that required Design QA and marked them as Design QA Passed once verified. This ensured alignment across design and development while maintaining quality and efficiency throughout the sprint cycle.

Design work board

Design work board

Design work board

Product feature prioritization

At connectRN, my team and I used a structured prioritization process to identify which features to develop next. We leveraged a product feature prioritization matrix, a tool that helped us evaluate new ideas, enhancements, and problems to solve based on urgency and value. Items were pulled from the product backlog and plotted on a value matrix owned by the Product team, enabling us to make informed, collaborative decisions about where to invest our time and resources.


Once a feature was prioritized, it moved into an upcoming sprint as part of our Agile development process. From there, UX work began, including discovery, design, prototyping, and testing. The following projects represent key initiatives I worked on at connectRN, all shaped through this collaborative, data-informed approach to product strategy.

Product feature prioritization matrix

Product feature prioritization matrix

Product feature prioritization matrix

Project 1:

Improving the clinician check-in process

Challenge

There is a high volume of calls to Customer Support from clinicians expecting a shift cancellation bonus but not receiving one. This issue could stem from confusion and frustration during the facility check-in process, where clinicians can potentially encounter various problems, make incorrect assumptions, and end up leaving the facility without receiving proper confirmation from the staff. How might we improve the clinician experience, reduce confusion during check-in, and lower the volume of support calls?

Goal

For clinicians: Minimize confusion and frustration by enabling clinicians to help themselves independently. If a clinician encounters an issue during the check-in process, they should be able to resolve it easily without needing to contact support. Given the importance of payment, we must clearly communicate the status of any potential cancellation bonus.


For the business: Significantly reduce the volume of support calls related to the check-in process, aiming to bring them as close to zero as possible.

Process

Step 1: Discovery, research, & insights

I collaborated closely with the product and Customer Support teams to gather insights directly from clinicians and understand real-world pain points during the facility check-in process. Together, we reviewed common support cases, analyzed patterns, and identified key moments of confusion or frustration.

We conducted brainstorming sessions, collaborative exercises, and whiteboarding workshops to unpack the problem from multiple perspectives. These activities helped us uncover the barriers clinicians face and allowed us to explore the broader context around the check-in experience.


Based on what we learned, I mapped out the most likely user scenarios and journey variations related to this issue. These journeys served as a foundation for exploring multiple solution paths grounded in real-world clinician experiences.

Scenario 1: 
Clinician arrives at the facility, ready to work her shift but notices her name crossed-out on the shift schedule board. Without talking with any staff, the clinician assumes the shift was cancelled and she was no longer needed. Since there is no need to check into a cancelled shift, the clinician leaves the facility and goes home.

Because she did not check in (or speak with anybody), nobody can confirm she was ever  there.

The next day, the clinician notices that there is no cancellation bonus in the My Earnings tab, prompting her to call CS.

Since the clinician did not talk to any staff, nobody can confirm the clinician was there. This makes it hard to distinguish NCNS and delays the cancellation bonus.

Scenario 2:  
Clinician shows up at the facility, ready to work her shift. However, the clinician cannot find any internal staff to ask for a supervisor. Unable to check in and unsure what to do next, the clinician assumes the shift was cancelled and goes back home.

Clinician doesn’t wait around, goes home because it’s late and she just wants to get back home.

 The next day, the clinician notices that there is no cancellation bonus in the My Earnings tab, prompting her to call CS.

Since there was no scheduler or supervisor present at the time, nobody can confirm the clinician was ever there. This makes it hard to distinguish NCNS and delays the cancellation bonus.

Scenario 3:
Clinician finds supervisor, and is sent home.

Scenario 4: 
Clinician finds supervisor, checks in, but it sent home before shift end time.

Forked logic for more or less than 4hrs (cancellation bonus vs. timsheet paid)

Whiteboarding

Whiteboarding

Whiteboarding

Current 'sent home' flow

Current 'sent home' flow

Current 'sent home' flow

Exploring idea flows

Exploring idea flows

Exploring idea flows

Exploring a more realistic flow

Exploring a more realistic flow

Exploring a more realistic flow

Step 2: Ideation, design exploration, & prototype testing

With clear insights into our users’ needs, expectations, and pain points, I began shaping the new experience. This phase included sketches, user flows, wireframes, and interactive prototypes. My goal was to explore multiple, comprehensive solutions that addressed the check-in pain points from various angles. Like most design processes, this was highly iterative — designing, testing, scrapping, and refining until we landed on something that truly worked.

Throughout this phase, I actively collaborated with product, engineering, and leadership to share early concepts, gather feedback, and align on solutions. These conversations were essential for uncovering edge cases, questioning assumptions, and building team alignment.


Once we narrowed in on a promising direction, I created interactive prototypes to test directly with clinicians. Design validation played a critical role here — helping determine whether the experience was clear, useful, and effective. We used this stage not only to observe how clinicians interacted with the product, but also to ask targeted questions: What worked well? What caused friction? Did this solve their needs, and if not, why?

Narrowing in on the solution

Narrowing in on the solution

Narrowing in on the solution

Mapping out an interactive prototype used for testing

Mapping out an interactive prototype used for testing

Mapping out an interactive prototype used for testing

Early interactive prototype used for user feedback

An early look at the many ideation outcomes

An early look at the many ideation outcomes

An early look at the many ideation outcomes

Step 3: Final design & hand-off

With a validated solution in place, it was time to finalize the design and prepare it for development. I refined the user flows, components, assets, and annotations to ensure everything was production-ready. Once complete, I handed off the designs to engineering through a structured, detailed process.


I partnered closely with product and engineering to ensure alignment, answer any outstanding questions, and provide ongoing support throughout implementation. After completing design QA to confirm visual and functional accuracy, the feature was successfully released to our clinician community.

Finalzing all the screens in the flow

Finalzing all the screens in the flow

Finalzing all the screens in the flow

Final designs

Final designs

Final designs

Working with engineering on defining colors

Working with engineering on defining colors

Working with engineering on defining colors

Components within our design system

Components within our design system

Components within our design system

Defining component details

Defining component details

Defining component details

Results

Once launched, the solution proved to be a success, meeting both user and business goals. Clinicians were better able to understand their options during the check-in process, resolve issues directly with the facility, and take action without needing to contact Customer Support. As a result, CS reported a significant drop in related support calls, indicating a smoother, more self-sufficient experience for our clinicians and reduced operational strain for the business.

Project 2:

Redesigned Administrator Dashboard

Challenge

Redesign and update the connectRN Administrator Dashboard for facilities to align with current branding and style guidelines, leveraging our new design system, and streamline the experience through targeted UX improvements.

Results

Login screen

Login screen

Login screen

Redesigned timesheets table

Redesigned timesheets table

Redesigned timesheets table

Timesheets comment history

Timesheets comment history

Timesheets comment history

Shift management

Shift management

Shift management

Clinician Profile

Clinician Profile

Clinician Profile

Components within our design system

Components within our design system

Components within our design system

Components and variants within our design system

Components and variants within our design system

Components and variants within our design system

Project 3:

Improving the clinician requirements experience

Challenge

Certain facilities have specific clinician requirements, such as CPR certification, that must be met before a clinician can work there. However, clinician feedback has shown that the current requirements process is confusing and unintuitive. We need to update the existing requirements management system to allow clinicians to easily add, update, and manage required documents directly through the app. Uploading certifications, completing required fields, and tracking progress should be clear and seamless, creating a streamlined experience that helps clinicians stay compliant and ready to work.

Process

Creating a prototype of the solution

Creating a prototype of the solution

Creating a prototype of the solution

Iterating on the design

Iterating on the design

Iterating on the design

Handing off requirements to engineering

Handing off requirements to engineering

Handing off requirements to engineering

A walkthrough of the final design