Clinical answers at the point of care: rebuilding the BMJ Best Practice app
Doctors and students use BMJ Best Practice to check symptoms and treatments in the middle of a consultation, often with patchy Wi-Fi. The old app made them download everything before they could look anything up. Box UK rebuilt it: downloads are 70% faster, storage is 60% smaller, and individual topics open instantly.
70%
faster full download
60%
less storage
1,100
clinical topics, each available instantly
100k
medical professionals using the app
In short
- BMJ Best Practice gives clinicians and students evidence-based guidance at the point of care.
- The old app required a full download of 1,000+ topics before use.
- Box UK ran discovery to agree the product vision, user profiles and stories.
- A proof of concept replaced navigation with a powerful search.
- The rebuilt app opens topics instantly online and works better offline.
- It’s faster on low-spec devices and supports multiple languages for new markets.
Customer Background
BMJ is a global healthcare knowledge provider. Its Best Practice app gives more than 100,000 medical professionals and students evidence-based information on diagnosis and treatment, at the moment they need it. With patients’ health at stake, the information has to be accurate, presented safely, and fast.
The Challenge
The app had to deliver information instantly, anywhere, while supporting the flow of a consultation and meeting strict clinical safety requirements.
The existing app made users wait for a full download of more than 1,000 topics before they could use it, and many clinicians work in buildings with unreliable Wi-Fi. The app was also a core revenue stream for BMJ, which wanted to take it to new regions.
Our Approach
Our developers and UX consultants worked together from the start, beginning with a discovery phase that defined the product vision and objectives, with user profiles and stories that agreed priorities.
We then built a technical proof of concept for the most complex parts. The biggest decision was to replace the old navigation with a search that takes users straight to what they need, using overlays, accordions and swipes to present content in a logical order. Our UX consultants checked that information always appeared in the right order and combinations to stay clinically safe.
“Box UK are a pleasure to work with and the team are always enthusiastic about developing new features and improving existing ones. We work in partnership with them to achieve this and they feel like part of our own team rather than an external supplier.”
Jane Clapton, Associate Product Manager, BMJ
What we Built
- Search-led access to 1,000+ topics, replacing layered navigation.
- Instant topic access online, with no need to wait for a full download.
- A 70% faster full download and 60% less storage, through a rebuilt data management process.
- Better offline use for clinicians moving between Wi-Fi hotspots.
- Performance on older devices as well as the latest ones.
- Multi-language support for launches in new regions.
Delivery
After extensive usability testing, the app launched on iOS and Android.
The Outcome
- Faster access to clinical guidance at the point of care.
- A platform for international growth, with multi-language support.
- 4.8 stars on Google Play and Apple Stores.
- Silver Award in 2 categories in the 2018 W3 Awards.
- Strong user feedback, including examples shown below
“Good tool for medical students on the ward, particularly as it’s all available offline.”
App store review
“This is the best mHealth decision support tool I have found… Highly recommended for clinicians and academics alike.”
App store review
Frequently asked questions
Let users open individual topics instantly instead of downloading everything first, and rebuild the data management behind it. The BMJ Best Practice app’s full download became 70% faster.
Because clinicians usually know what they’re looking for and need it quickly. A good search gets them there in fewer steps than browsing.
Make sure information is always shown in the right order and combination, and test with real users. BMJ’s app was reviewed by UX consultants for clinical safety and tested before launch.
Yes. Many hospitals have unreliable Wi-Fi, and the BMJ Best Practice app’s improved offline capability was designed for exactly that.
What this means
for your organisation
If your users need your information at a critical moment, whether that’s a clinician mid-consultation or an engineer on site, every second of delay matters, and so does working without a signal.
If you publish essential information to people on the move, send us a few lines about how they use it. We’ll tell you where we’d look first.
Talk to one of our digital experts
Tom Houdmont
Chief Technology Officer
Do you have an idea or a project you need support with?
Tom is CTO at Box UK, with 12 years’ experience helping clients deliver ambitious digital products. His background spans Solution Architecture, Front End Development and AI adoption, with particular expertise in high-traffic websites that perform reliably at scale and in embedding AI into delivery practice.
Or call us on 020 7439 1900
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