Don't Cut Me Bro!

As a kid, I was afraid of doctors with needles and scalpels. Why damage perfectly good skin in the name of medical science, right?

Today, biweekly B-12 shots are my norm. Man, the world is more alive and colorful after the nectar of those gods are injected into my bloodstream. Through regular blood test and things like that, it was identified that i needed to have an organ removed (well, really, a gland, a parathyroid which is supposed to be the size of a piece of rice but mine was the size of penny, but organ sounds more ominous, dramatic). The surgery would be outpatient and over in 75 minutes. Since I'd never had surgery before, I was both kind of excited for the experience as well as anxious (Julie would tell you that I was a lot anxious and thought I was going to try to escape, but that's an act I do just for her - right).

Let's talk about the user experience of outpatient surgery. If any UX needs to be evaluated and improved its probably this one. You arrive at the butt crack of dawn, check in, and wait for the nurse. Once the nurse calls you, she will then escort you to a room the size of a broom closet and asks you to put on the medical gown, where you then wait for an army of people to ask you the same questions over and over again - name, birthday, what surgery are you having, etc... Then the time comes, the time we've all been waiting for - surgery time...

A new nurse comes for you (this is when Julie thought I'd really try my escape). So, you follow her out of the broom closet, through a couple of different sets of doors and into the operating room. There you are - IV's, scalpels, other medical instruments and tools, and the operating table - the metal operating table. You, basically, must willingly, lie down on this cold, hard metal operating table and declare that your body is open for operating business. So you do and you close your eyes and with a quick sting on your left arm, You say something like "Hey, I'm starting to feel something". With no "good night", no counting backward from a hundred, you are out...

Next thing you know, someone is saying your name over and over again, and you are on your way home to binge watch "The Americans" and have a cool neck scar to show all your friends.

#UX