Mixlab Orders Queue

Mixlab is a compounding pharmacy that focuses exclusively on pet medications.
This project was a redesign of Mixlab’s internal software which is used to take new prescriptions, process orders, and ensure patients receive their medication on time.

Mixlab’s pharmacy processes hundreds of orders per day. Each order has many steps which need to be completed by different members of our team. With all of these different steps and users, it can be difficult to keep track of where each order is in the process and what needs to be done next. The existing design was poorly organized and made it difficult for users to keep track of what tasks were remaining. This lead to processing errors and delays in getting orders to clients.  

The first step in the redesign was to understand each user role and the tasks they complete in fulfilling orders, including edge case scenarios. Our Pharmacy Team includes: Pharmacists, Care Specialists, Compounding Techs, and Processing Techs. Members from each team were interviewed to gain a deeper understanding of their role. User flows for each role were generated based on these discussions. 

We decided to reformat the platform into a task queue to help keep users on top of what needs to be done for each order. The user flows were used to define the steps in the tasks queues. Main steps were established with supporting sub-steps. Each main step corresponds to a user role. For example, the intake queue is handled by Pharmacists, while the confirm queue is handled by the Care Specialists. This allows users to see how many orders need to be handled, and what specific sub-steps are incomplete. Additionally, the information is now organized by order, rather than prescription. This keeps prescriptions properly grouped so they will be processed together. 

Orders in the queue are displayed in a listing page with key information about each order such as patient and prescriber name, contents and price of the order. The columns in the listing page are unique to each main section of the queue. This tailors the information to each task. For example, in the confirm queue (shown), where users will be confirming order details, the contents of the order, subtotal, client and patient name, and billing and shipping info are shown. Whereas in the compound queue, where users will be making the medications, details about the drug such as form, flavor, and quantity are shown. 

From the listing page, users can select an order to view the order details page. On this page users see additional details about the order along with the sub-steps for the main step of the process the order is currently in. The order details page has a banner displaying key information about the order including when the order was last updated, when the order needs to be ready and delivered by, and billing and shipping information. On the far left, client and order notes allow users to keep track of important details about the order and the preferences of the client to ensure we deliver the customized experience our clients enjoy. The center section contains key information about the pet the medication is for, and a receipt style summary of all medications in the order. The righthand side is where the action happens. Here, sub-steps appear according the where is the process the order is. The purple buttons in this section open modals which allow the user to complete each sub-step. Once all sub-steps have been completed, the order can move to the next main step in the process. 

While the development team was building the new designs, training material was created to ensure a smooth rollout by having all of the users familiar with the updates. This included video tutorials, quizzes, and scenarios for users to walk through to verify that they understood how the new system would work. “Office hours” were setup where users could ask questions about the updates, and all users were tested on the updates to ensure comprehension. 

Next Steps

We got a lot of great feedback on how users enjoy working with the new software, and how the new design has increased accuracy and speed of processing orders. As we continue to make refinements, user feedback and observation of pharmacy practices have lead us to focus on the following issues: Exploring increased visibility and ranking of client and order notes, digital stock check for medications, and digital QA for pack and ship. Our next iteration of the software will aim to address these issues.