User-Centered Design Connects Patients with Family-Centered Care

3 images of Mary Bridge Children's website design

About

MultiCare Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital & Health Network, established in 1955, is a state-designated Level II Pediatric Trauma Center for Western Washington. In addition to being the only pediatric hospital in Southwest Washington, Mary Bridge Children’s network includes numerous inpatient care, primary care, virtual care, urgent care, dedicated pediatric care and specialty services.

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Problem Overview

Mary Bridge Children’s does an excellent job of meeting families where they are to provide comfort and expertise during highly emotional times. The health network wanted a website that reflected the caliber of care families can count on from in-person experiences at Mary Bridge Children’s and helped them access the care and information they needed as seamlessly as possible.

Services

Content Strategy
Project Management
User Research
Web Design
Web Development

Prioritizing Access and Expansion

For many families navigating the need for pediatric care and services coincides with complicated circumstances. Our team knew that connecting people with information on the MultiCare Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital & Health Network’s website quickly would place families closer to receiving care. As a result, accessibility and ease of use guided every step of the design and development from wireframes and information architecture, to integrated search, navigation and content strategy.

At the start of the redesign, Mary Bridge Children’s was on the cusp of major change as it planned and prepared to build its first-ever state-of-the-art standalone hospital. Stakeholders likened the new facility to a rocket ship because it would expand regional access to services ranging from primary to complex care. To support this growth, the SiteCrafting team developed new features and modern design elements that highlight the scale of the project, enabling the Mary Bridge Children’s team to create impactful content. Together, the teams planned for scalability and long-term expansion to support the health network’s future.

A Unified Digital Framework

The new digital experience introduces a visual refresh that brings Mary Bridge Children’s into the MultiCare “parent” template. This strategic move ensures that Mary Bridge Children’s inherits the robust functionality of the MultiCare site while retaining its own distinct brand colors. By bringing all network sites together under a consistent framework, the experience for patients moving between MultiCare and Mary Bridge Children’s is seamless; users know exactly what to expect from the brand. This structure also ensures that providers and services are organized identically across the system, reducing cognitive load for families.

Designing for Small Screens, Making Big Impact

As Mary Bridge Children’s grows its network to meet the needs of patients where they are around the region, SiteCrafting’s design and development teams set to work to create a digital experience that met people where they were—on mobile devices. The mobile-first strategy ensures webpages flex to fit any screen and load quickly so website visitors can engage with information on the website without excessive pinching, zooming and scrolling.

“The real work is happening at Mary Bridge Children’s, we’re just trying to connect people and then get out of the way to let the Mary Bridge Children’s team can do what it does best,” said Chuck Johnston, SiteCrafting’s Director of Research.

Customized Search Streamlines Results

Mary Bridge Children’s new website includes a sophisticated search feature that displays results from several different data sources. Users can also filter results by attributes including specialty, gender, location and appointment options. The results page now features supplemental resources, providing users with deeper context for their search.

Medical professional in a light blue shirt and red-striped tie interacting with a child wearing red glasses and a colorful arm cast. The child reaches out with the casted arm, possibly for a high-five or exam, in a medical setting with equipment in the background.

Improved Experience for All

A modernized user-interface integrates elements of Mary Bridge Children’s updated brand and showcases the hospital network’s range of services and places patients, families and caregivers at the center of the online experience. Beyond the user experience, the new framework provides significant benefits to the internal team. By moving away from maintaining multiple disparate websites, updates can now be made in one place. This creates a highly efficient management system where improvements to the MultiCare parent template automatically benefit the Mary Bridge Children’s site.

The website not only showcases the depth and breadth of Mary Bridge Children’s impact, it helps people access a range of resources, services and care while reflecting the spirit of Mary Bridge Children’s and its impact in the community.